"Training Trouble" Authors: Robert Brown and Francis Tolbert Disclaimer: This story uses characters created and copyrighted by Sega of America, Inc. and Archie Comics (except where noted, in which case they were created and copyrighted by us or by another and we have permission to use them). The authors hereby give permission for this story to be downloaded and/or printed at 1 copy per user as long as (1) no changes to the story are made without our express written(not e-mailed) permission and (2) no attempt is made to profit from this story. If either or both rules are violated, it will be considered a violation of copyright law. Author's Note: Well, Francis pretty much summed everything up in the last Author's Note, which I'm still amazed that he actually wanted to write. But he was right about one thing: no more empty promises from us. This is a labor of love for us both, and it's one we enjoy to no end. As we've often said, we will write until we have nothing left to write about or until we have no one left to write for. Thank you all for standing with us for so long; we are here only because you still want us to be. Till next time, Happy Reading! Cast of Characters (in order of appearance) Princess Alicia Rose Hedgehog*** Queen Sally Alicia Hedgehog King Sonic Hedgehog Prince Juice Hedgehog*** Angela Shi-rat*** James Echidna*** Rosie Shi-rat*** Julie-Su Echidna Tanis Shi-rat*** Nadia Osaya*** DJ Osaya### Desir‚e D'Coolette*** Bunnie D'Coolette Sarah Prower*** Miles Prower III*** Princess Sondra Acorn-Prower Darrin D'Coolette*** Antoine D'Coolette Charleen Oster### Maxwell Kavenoff### #34 Princess Alicia Rose of the house of Hedgehog, second in line to the throne of Mobius, was at a loss for words as she stood in the center of Knothole Village. "You expect me to do what?" she repeated for the third time in the past minute. Her mother, Queen Sally Alicia of the house of Hedgehog, current ruler of Mobius, sighed and shook her head. "I want you to take these weights, one in each hand, one on each ankle, and one around your waist, and fly up as high as you can for as long as you can," she explained once more. Alicia looked down at the five weights, each one at least twenty pounds, and backed up a step. "I can't do that," she protested. "I just got used to sixty pounds, and now you want to move me up to over a hundred? It's not possible." Sally smirked and casually looped all five weights around one of her ankles. With seemingly no effort, she floated up until the weights were all higher than her daughter's head. "I can lift almost three times this weight," Sally said, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "And by the time I'm done with you, you will too." Alicia nearly growled at her mother as she floated back down, but her upbringing prevented such an unladylike display. She thought back to the first training session she'd had one month ago with her mother, the day right after they'd returned with the Magma Stone. Alicia had known something was up when one of the palace maids had woken her up early. "The Queen requests your presence at Knothole this morning," the young porcupine had said. "You are to be there as soon as you finish your breakfast." Alicia had acknowledged the maid with a nod of her head and had quickly gotten out of bed. She had hurried through her morning routine and her meal, not wanting to keep her mother waiting. She noticed the other Chosen Ones were similarly rushing, presumably to their own training. Fortunately, Angela had taken the time to heal them of their injuries, otherwise no one would have been up to any training at all. Even then, it had taken her flying at full speed to get there in time. Sally had been waiting for her in the center of Knothole, just as she had earlier this day. "You were born with your power so you take it for granted," she had said, floating up until she was eye level with her daughter. "You should be able to do more than I can, but we never took the time to train your strength. That changes today. "From what you said last night," she had continued, grabbing hold of Alicia's hand and pulling her to the ground, "you were barely able to fly out of there holding only Darrin. I've had to fly with a lot more than that, and one day you will too. Knuckles made us all see this is more important than the fight we led against Robotnik, and I'm going to make sure you're ready for it. I give you the choice right now to leave. You can go home and we can forget all about this. But if you're going to fight the Fallen Ones, then you do whatever I say." Alicia had thought about things seriously for a moment. "Mother, I am a princess," she had answered quietly. "I have a duty to this planet and all the animals on it. I'll do whatever it takes to protect us, even if it costs me my life." Sally had hugged her then, a tear falling from each of their eyes. "You've made me proud this day," she had said, her voice faltering slightly. "Now then, let's get to work." And for the past month, Sally had been an exacting taskmaster, often training her daughter to the brink of exhaustion before letting her return to the palace. "We don't know when they're going to attack," she kept saying. "We have to take advantage of the time afforded us." And now here Alicia was, grumbling to herself as she fastened the final weight around her waist. She closed her eyes, summonning up her powers from wherever they lay deep inside her. Slowly, ever so slowly, she felt her feet leave the ground and rise a few inches. But she couldn't hold it for long as the weights dragged her back down. "Good start," Sally said, steadying her daughter as she wobbled for a second. "Again though, and this time keep your eyes open." Alicia pushed her bangs out of her face and forced a smile for her mother. As she tried again to float skyward, a blue blur and a brown blur streaked by them, somehow strangely silent. The reason for the silence was simple: the blurs were moving at a subsonic pace. "Oh come on Juice," the blue blur teased, running circles around the other one. "Don't tell me your old man is this much faster than you." Juice, unlike his sister, had no problems growling at his parent. Then again, he couldn't really say anything else while holding the Angela shaped dummy in his hands. It had been made to look just like her, and weighed the same too. And to make matters worse, another one that was like Desir‚e had been attached to his waist and dragged along behind him. Juice tried to go faster, but in his haste he didn't watch where he was going and tripped over an exposed tree root. "Look out!" he yelled, bringing his arms up to absorb the impact of hitting the ground. Sonic ran over to him and helped his son up. "Are you all right?" he asked, checking him over for injuries. "I've had it!" Juice yelled, pulling away from his dad. "That's it, no more! I can't handle it, I'm through!" "You're through?" Sonic asked, grabbing Juice's head and forcing him to look at where the dummy of Angela lay, broken and shattered. "What if this had been real? What if you were trying to escape and had Angela in your hands when you tripped? Do you want her to end up like that because you couldn't handle it?" Juice dropped to his knees, a cry wrenched from his lips that sounded like it had been torn from his soul. He punched the ground in frustration and fear. "I can't do this," he said between punches. "I just can't do this." Sonic grabbed his fist and held it firmly. "There's no one else Juice," he said firmly. "Giving up is the same as helping the Fallen Ones, and you know it. If this planet means anything to you, if Angela means to you what your mother means to me, there's nothing you won't do to protect them." Juice slowly looked up at his father, a fire burning in his eyes; the same fire that still burned in Sonic's eyes after all this time. "What do I have to do?" "Get up," Sonic said, pulling him to his feet. "We'll work on your strength later. For now, there's another skill you have to master." Juice couldn't help the shiver that ran through him as Sonic pulled a power ring out of his backpack. His brown quills nearly stood up on end as he remembered his first experience with them. He had been a kid of about five, playing hide and seek with his friends, when he stumbled across it in his father's backpack. Not knowing any better, he'd grabbed hold of the shiny object to get a closer look at it. Reacting to Sonic's DNA in him, the very DNA that gave him his super speed, the power ring had activated, surrounding Juice in its golden light. At first, Juice had been in awe of its beauty. But then he started running at top speed, completely out of control, bouncing off the floor and walls like a pinball and screaming in terror the whole time. There was no telling when he would've stopped if it hadn't been for Sonic snatching him out of mid-air and cradling him to his chest. But since that day, Juice had had an unconquerable fear of using a power ring. Because they were still at peace, no one had taken the time to cure him of it. Now though, it was a mistake that needed to be quickly rectified. Juice could feel the instinct to run away kicking in as Sonic held it out toward him. But another image flashed before his eyes, an image of Angela lying broken and bloodied, just like the dummy that bore her likeness. His fear for her life conquered the unconquerable and he reached out and grabbed hold of the ring, letting its power fill him for the first time in twelve years. In the nearby Great Forest, Angela was chanting a spell under her breath, feeling the power of fire course through her veins. The power she was calling on was foreign to her, an attack spell when she was used to using only defense and evil-purging spells. It was the one part of her training she didn't like; she didn't want to learn how to hurt others. But her counterpart Tanin had no such problems. And if she wanted to keep her friends safe, she had to master this magic. A flash of gold off to the side caught her eyes, disrupting her concentration. No sooner had her spell been broken than another one, drawing from the elements of water and wind to form a blast of frigid air, struck her in her chest and knocked her to the ground. "Ouch," she murmured, rubbing the nearly frozen area of her robes to try and warm them. "Oh I'm sorry," a purple echidna said, letting his hands drop to his sides, "I thought you'd be ready for that one. Looks like you aren't ready for me to bring the strength of my attacks up yet." "I guess not, James," Angela said, glaring at him beneath her eyelashes. "You can never let your guard down," Rosie said from where she watched them spar. "When you fight for real, your opponent will take advantage of every weakness that presents itself. Lose your focus, lose the fight, lose your life. They won't hesitate to kill you if you give them the chance." "I can defend myself from anything he throws at me," Angela protested, climbing back to her feet. "All defenses eventually break down," another echidna said, stepping out from behind a tree. "The best thing you can do is defend till you get an opening to attack, but you have to have the ability to make an attack." "So you were paying attention to what Father was teaching you," James said with a half-smirk. Julie-Su let out a chuckle as she shook out her banded hair. "If you tell him that, I'll deny it." James rolled his eyes a little, but the smirk never left his face. As soon as he turned back toward Angela, he had to dodge out of the way of the fireball she'd just thrown at him. "What was that for?" he demanded, patting out some singed quills. "'Never let your guard down,'" she mimicked in her mother's voice. James actually laughed out loud at that remark. "You're learning." "I just wish this was a lesson we never had to teach," Tanis said, appearing in his trademark swirl of wind. "Actually dragged yourself away from those scrolls dear?" Rosie asked, a smile playing on her lips. Tanis sighed and rubbed his eyes. For the past three weeks he had been trying to decode the scroll found in Tanak' Acorn's tomb as well as the one found in his ancestor Iridal's. And so far, neither one was making much sense. He could tell it was the same code, but had yet to find the key for either. But what disturbed him most was that there was no reason for Tanak' to have known this secret code. No reason he wanted to consider anyway. "I thought that taking a short break might help me think more clearly," he admitted. Rosie nodded and kissed her husband on the lips lightly. "Glad you're finally taking a break. I do hope you'll actually come to bed at a decent time tonight." "I'll try," Tanis promised, placing his arms around Rosie and settling back against a tree to watch his daughter train. Back at the palace, Nadia was hard at work on the computer. Being the resident computer expert, especially since she had once been a computer, she was the natural choice to coordinate the search for the remaining artifacts. "Wind, Water, Lightning, Shadow, and Life," she muttered, her fingers flying over the keys. "There have to be at least two artifacts for each of these Emeralds. But with all these legends, how can I tell which ones are suitable? For that matter, how can I tell which ones are real and which are just legends? There has to be some better way." She sent what few documents she had found to the printer and waited for them to print out. While she was standing there, a series of approaching sonic booms followed by a loud thud against her door caught her attention. She ran to the door and opened it, surprised to see a dazed Juice sprawled on the floor with a power ring fading from his hand. "Are you all right?" she asked, helping him to his feet. "Yeah, I guess," he said, shaking the cobwebs out. "I still don't know how Dad does it so easily." "Lots of practice," Nadia said, looking back at the printer and saw that it had finished. "Good thing you're here though. I've got some promising leads you might want to look at." Juice took the papers from Nadia and glanced them over. "Oh, we've already looked into these," he said, handing them back. "DJ gave us these last week." "DJ?" Nadia asked, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Yeah. He's been helping us from the start. How do you think we knew about the Magma Stone before you did?" "Oh really? Seems like I have to have a talk with my son." That's when Juice realized he'd just slipped up. "Well, I'm sure you have things to do so I'll be leaving now bye!" he said quickly, revving up his legs and taking off quickly. Nadia didn't even care that Juice had left. "Computer, where is my son?" she asked, pulling on her own trenchcoat. "You shouldn't be too hard on the boy," the computer said in a calming tone. "I know he's your friend, but he's my son. Tell me where he is." "I'm sure he was just trying--" "Tell me!" Nadia ordered, cutting the computer off. "Et tu, Nadia?" the computer asked, sounding sad. Ever since Donovan had stopped using the computer over Nadine's disappearance, he spoke to it very curtly, if at all. Both Nadia and DJ continued to use it, however, but this was the first time Nadia had ever used that tone with it. Nadia took a breath and forced herself to calm down. "I'm not angry at you," she spoke slowly. "But I am a protective mother who does not want her child to put himself in any danger. Can you understand that?" "Understandable," the computer said, but it didn't sound sad anymore. "He's not in any danger, unless you consider the Great Library dangerous." "Is he alone?" "No," the computer replied after a moment. "He is with the daughter of the guard." "Daughter of the guard? Oh, you mean Desir‚e. Well then, that's...." Nadia's maternal senses kicked into overdrive, perceiving a different threat to her son. "Teleport me there now, if you please." "I don't think they'll be doing anything in the line that you're thinking of, but I'll teleport you there anyway. Teleporting now." Nadia closed her eyes to brace against the nausea she knew was coming. As used as she was to it, it barely affected her for more than a few seconds. Her eyes opened and she started looking around for the line of thread that she knew would lead her straight to their positions. It didn't take her long to spot it and she followed it at a brisk pace. At the other end of that thread, DJ and Desir‚e were hard at work, trying to find some more information that could give them a chance against the Fallen Ones. Working together, they had isolated several legends and tales that were worthy of being checked out. Desir‚e had insisted that she really wasn't cut out for this kind of work, but it just took one look from DJ to get her to change her mind. "I thought I was only supposed to do that to you," she had kidded him earlier. DJ tapped her on the arm lightly to get her attention, showing her yet another artifact he'd found. "Hmm, I don't know," she said after reading it. "This one is so well hidden that we might never find it. Still, put it in the pile and we'll bring it back with us." DJ nodded and turned to put the book with the others, but instead looked right into the face of his mother. "Well hello there," she said sweetly. The book dropped from DJ's hand as he stood perfectly still in surprise. Desir‚e jumped back as the book hit the floor. "What the hoo-ha is the matter you?" Desir‚e asked, her accent in full force from her surprise. "You tryin' to give me a heart attack or something?" DJ simply pointed at his mother in answer. Desir‚e looked where he was pointing and took a step back. "Oh, Aunt Nadia. I...didn't expect you here." "Apparently not," Nadia said. "What I want to know is what the two of you are doing here, and just why I was never informed of this." "Well, Aunt Nadia, it's like this. We, the Chosen Ones, had agreed to try and keep you adults out of this as much as we could. And I couldn't think of anyone better than DJ at computer searching. But he brought me here because you were using the computer. And since he helped us before, he wanted to keep helping us to keep everyone safe." Nadia took a moment to let all that sink in, using her tail to tickle DJ's nose to make sure he wasn't stuck permanently pointing at her. A loud sneeze from him assured her that he wasn't. "I guess I can't really fault you for that," she said reluctantly. "But as an overprotective mother, I have the right to know where my son is, what he's doing, and who he's doing it with. Do we have an understanding?" DJ and Desir‚e both blushed, catching the double meaning of his mother's words. "Umm, OK," Desir‚e said. "I think I can remember that." "Good," she said, grabbing both of them by an ear. "Now you're both coming back to the palace with me. DJ because I'm going to start teaching him all my computer tricks. And you Desir‚e because afterwards we're going to have a little girl talk." Desir‚e winced, but held her tongue so that she wouldn't make the situation, or the pain in her ear, worse. "Teleport us back computer," Nadia said as they reached the doorway. A few seconds later they were all standing in the Osaya's main room. "I'll leave you two alone now, I know you have a lot to teach him," Desir‚e said, inching toward the door. "When you're done with him, you'll know how to find me. Have fun DJ!" She blew him a quick kiss and ran out the door. "I'll find her later," Nadia said, guiding DJ to a chair and making him sit down. "Now then, let's see just how good you really are." "What's about to go on here?" the computer asked. "If DJ is determined to help them, I'm going to make sure he knows everything I know." "Fair enough," the computer said with a sigh. "Just don't be too surprised." Desir‚e ran toward her family's rooms, dodging and weaving around animals too slow to get out of her way. "Almost there," she thought, making a sharp turn down a hallway. "Just a little bit further and I'll be--" Her thought was cut off and she got knocked into a wall by a flying roundhouse to the face. "Ow," she thought, blinking to clear the stars that dotted her vision. They cleared just in time for her to see a fist aimed directly at her head. "Yow!" she yelled, dropping to the floor and just missing the impact that left a crack in the wall behind her. "You're getting slow Desir‚e," Bunnie said, dropping into a side stance and waiting for her daughter to get to her feet. "If I'd been the enemy, you wouldn't be conscious right now, at the very least. You'd think you'd know better after a month of this." Desir‚e kipped up to her feet, landing in a back stance. "It takes more than that Mom," she said, wiping away a slight trickle of blood from where she'd bitten her lip. She launched a sharp savate kick at her mother that was easily dodged, but managed to catch a glancing blow with the follow-up ax kick. "Better," Bunnie said with a smile, rubbing her shoulder. "Now see if you can handle this!" she yelled, lunging forward with a reverse punch-side kick combination. Desir‚e blocked the first and ducked the second, trying to sweep her mother's leg out. Bunnie hopped above the sweep and tried to come down on her daughter's extended leg knee first, but Desir‚e quickly rolled backward to her feet. The fight continued for a time, both of them using the hallways, and the animals that walked them, to the best advantage possible. At one point Bunnie caught Desir‚e with a charging spear, driving her through a door and rolling through the tackle to land on her feet. "Hey!" Sarah said, grabbing a piece of crystal that had fallen from the table where she sat before it could hit the floor. "Oh, sorry Sarah," Bunnie said, pulling Desir‚e to her feet and holding her steady as she wobbled. "We didn't break anything, did we?" "No, it's ok," Sarah answered, though her two tails were lashing the air angrily. "You just startled me." "We'll continue this elsewhere," Bunnie said, pulling her dazed daughter out with her and closing the door behind them. The young hedgehog waited until they were gone before relaxing. If they hadn't been otherwise occupied, they might have seen her doing something she wasn't supposed to be doing. But if they had seen, they gave no indication of it. Sarah regarded the crystal in her hand as she set it back on the table. It was still rough hewn, but you could tell that when she was finished it would look like a dragon in full flight. All around her were crystal cutting and shaping tools, but they were all as clean and sharp as when they had been bought. That was because she had never used them. She placed a finger on the crystal and closed her eyes. When she opened them, they shone with all the colors of the rainbow. Slowly she moved her finger across the crystal shape, changing it into the form she wanted with nothing more than her touch and her will. "Hey, Sis!" M3 called, running into the room. "What's up big bro?" Sarah asked, her eyes shifting back to normal before her brother could notice the difference. "I talked Dad into giving us some more flying lessons. You up for it?" Sarah looked back at the crystal she was shaping. It was possibly the greatest joy in her life to create the works of crystal art she was capable of. That is, next to flying. But where the flying was hard to learn, this was second nature to her. She could just hear one of the adults reminding her, "Nothing worthwhile is ever easy." "All right, give me a few minutes to get ready," she said, a smile breaking out on her face. "Great! Dad says he might take us for a dip in the Hot Springs if we're good, so don't goof up today." "Me? You're the one who always lands on me." "Could you two keep it down?" Sondra called from the bedroom she shared with Tails. "I'm working on something." "Probably another 'famous' statue," M3 whispered to his sister. Sarah nodded with a giggle, knowing that her mother was where she got her abilities from. But no one knew she had them, not even her mother. She was afraid if anyone found out about them, they'd try to take them away from her. At least, that's what her friend told her. No one saw or knew of her friend, because it was all in her head. She could hear it speaking to her, and knew she wasn't crazy or anything because it had shown her how to create her crystals. She trusted her friend completely with everything, so when it had asked her to keep it a secret, she readily agreed. She hoped her statues would be as famous as her mother's one day, but for now she could only work on small crystals, not the full size ones Sondra used. "Hey, Mobius to Sarah, wake up!" M3 said, waving his hand in front of his sister's face. "Come on, Dad has to meet with Sir Charles later for more of that...aeriorecombination stuff." Sarah smiled and shrugged her thoughts off for now. "I think you mean 'aeroreconnaissance'," she said in a smart-aleck voice. M3 grabbed his sister in a headlock and gave her a playful noogie. "Come on," he said, walking out while still hanging onto his sister. "Hey, let go!" Sarah said, trying to squirm out of his grip, but she couldn't. "This is embarassing," she thought, her cheeks reddening as she thought of everyone watching her get dragged like this. Somewhere on the outskirts of Mobotropolis, Darrin sat on the roof of a building and watched the street below. He was on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary. Or more specifically, he was on the lookout for his father. His training over the past month had been simple: his father would tell him where to be and how long he had to prepare. When that time ran out, Antoine would try to sneak past his son and into whatever building he was watching. If Darrin caught him, that was the end of the training for the day. If he did not, then Antoine would engage him in a furious swordfight, even though Darrin was never allowed to bring his sword with him. If Darrin escaped the building without injury, Antoine called an end to it. But if Darrin shed even one drop of blood, then Antoine would give him a new location to get to, and a shorter amount of time to get there. So far, Darrin had only missed his father three times in the month that has passed. And of those three, Antoine was only able to wound him once, an intentionally shallow cut on Darrin's left hand. The training that day had gone on well through the night, and Darrin wanted to make sure he never had to go through that again. Just then, movement in a nearby tree caught his attention. "I have you this time Dad," he thought, waiting for Antoine to appear. But what emerged looked nothing like his father. It was a female cat, her fur such a pure white it fairly shone in the late afternoon sun. She was wearing a simple green sleeveless dress that ended just below her knee. And it was good that it did because she was running, running like she feared for her life. Though that could be because chasing her was a rather large rat swinging a flaming runesword. "Kavenoff!" Darrin realized, swinging his legs over the side of the roof. Without a moment's hesitation, he threw himself down over fifteen feet and landed on Maxwell, knocking him to the ground. Maxwell lay stunned for a few seconds as Darrin tried to pull the runesword from his grasp. Before he could, Maxwell pushed up forcefully, throwing Darrin off and to the side. "If you want my sword so badly," he said in his horrible, pained voice, "you will have to kill me for it." "And by killing you become you?" Darrin retorted. "Don't take me for a fool." "You are a fool for interrupting my misery in the first place!" the Kavenoff screamed, lunging forward with an overhand slash. Darrin dodged nimbly to the side but tripped on a piece of broken pavement and ended up face first on the street. "You tried to play the hero by saving the damsel," Maxwell said, stalking forward. "But now, who will save you?" Darrin brought up his arms as Maxwell brought the sword down in the vain hope of defending himself. When the sword never struck home, he opened his eyes a crack and saw another sword had stopped it. "Will I do?" Antoine asked, using his sword to push Maxwell back. "More players to my game are always welcome," Maxwell said, his eyes beginning to glow to match his sword. "I think it is time I change the rules," Antoine said, reaching into his pocket with his free hand and pulling out a golden amulet. "Recognize this?" The Kavenoff growled and took a step back. He thought about attacking despite this turn of events, but a black whirlwind engulfed him. "My misery will soon be yours!" he vowed as he disappeared from sight. "How did you...?" Darrin asked as his father helped him to his feet. "This is a sealing charm," Antoine explained. "When we faced this evil the first time, we were able to weaken his powers by looping this around his neck. Now answer me something. Why did you try to take on the Kavenoff by yourself?" "He was chasing someone," Darrin said, looking around. When he saw a ball of white fur huddled in the doorway of a nearby building, he hurried over and knelt down beside it. "Are you all right," he asked softly. The cat lifted her head slightly, staring at Darrin with frightened green eyes. "Wh-who are you?" she asked in a quivering voice. "Where is that thing?" "I'm Darrin," he answered soothingly. "The Kavenoff, that thing that was chasing you, is gone now. We drove it off." Without any warning, the girl launched herself at Darrin and wrapped her arms around his neck, crying into his shoulder. Darrin managed not to fall to his back somehow and gathered the girl in his arms as he stood up. "We should bring her back with us," he said, looking at Antoine. "If he comes back, she could still be in danger." Antoine nodded and sheathed his sword. "Let us be going then," he said, making way for Darrin to walk in front of him. Something about this whole thing bothered him slightly, but he couldn't put his finger on it. And until he knew what it was, he would keep his peace. Unknown to any of them, someone had been watching the training as he had all the others. "It seems the Chosen Ones' preparations are progressing quite well," he said to himself. "I just hope they realize their opponents are making preparations of their own." When they arrived at the palace, Darrin and Antoine immediately took the girl to see Sonic. "What happened to her?" Sonic asked, noticing how the feline still trembled. "The Kavenoff was after her," Darrin said, hugging her a little closer to his chest. Sonic put a hand on her shoulder, causing her to flinch away slightly. "It's OK, you're with friends," he said calmly. The girl turned to him and her eyes widened in recognition. "That's right, I'm Sonic Hedgehog," he said, answering her before she could ask. "What's your name?" "Charleen," the girl whispered, nodding her head in a show of respect to the king. "Charleen Oster." "Do you know why the Kavenoff was chasing you?" "M-my parents and I just moved here from Urbantropolis. We had to move in with my sick aunt to take care of her. But when we were approaching the city, he just appeared and started attacking, yelling about spreading his misery everywhere. I ran as fast as I could, but Mom and Dad...." her voice choked off with tears and she couldn't continue. "Sounds just like that coward," Sonic spat. "Do you know if he attacked anyone else?" Charleen shook her head, trying to wipe away her tears with one hand. "That's all right. Antoine, send some guards down there and check for any others who were attacked. If you can, lead them yourself." "As you wish, my king," Antoine said, snapping off a salute. "Charleen, I'd like you to stay here the night," Sonic offered. "This is the safest place for you until we know he won't attack again." "But what about my aunt?" she asked, the worry in her eyes growing. "See if you can find her aunt when you're down there," Sonic said to Antoine. "If you find her, bring her back here." "Of course," Antoine said. "By your leave then," he added, turning on his heel and walking out. "Darrin, please take our guest to one of the spare rooms and make sure she gets settled in. Also talk to your mother about assigning a guard for her overnight." "With all respect, My Liege," Darrin said, looking down at the cat in his arms, "I would like to have the guard duty for her tonight." Sonic rubbed his chin, thinking about it for a moment. "It's fine with me," he said after he was done. "But do me a favor and clear it with your mom first. I might be the king, but I'm not going to cross an angry mother." Darrin chuckled a little and even Charleen managed a smile at that. He bowed as well as he could and walked out, still carrying Charleen in his arms. Sonic watched them go with mixed emotions. "I hope I'm doing the right thing," he thought. Darrin took Charleen to a room that was near the area that he and his family lived in. "You'll be all right here," he said, laying her down on the bed. "Try to get some sleep for now while I find my mother." Charleen nodded, though she let go of his neck reluctantly. "Will you be back soon?" she asked in a small voice. "As soon as I can," he assured her with a smile. Charleen nodded with a yawn, her eyes closing a little. Darrin watched until she had fully settled down to sleep and then tiptoed out, careful not to wake her. The rest of the afternoon passed quickly for Darrin. Contacting his mother hadn't been hard. Convincing her, on the other hand, was very hard. It was only when she'd heard the girl's story that she reluctantly agreed. But she wanted to talk with Charleen first thing in the morning. His father had found Charleen's aunt, but was pretty much chased out of her house. "Sick or not, I can take care of myself," she insisted, swinging a frying pan around. "Let him come, I'll teach him not to pick on old ladies like me." After a couple more tries, and nearly getting knocked in the head by that frying pan, Antoine had decided to leave well enough alone and hurried back to the palace. When Darrin had heard all the reports, he relieved the guard and took up his position in front of Charleen's door. All was quiet for a couple hours, but then a horrible screaming sounded inside. Darrin threw open the door and ran inside, sword drawn and at the ready. Charleen was sitting upright in bed, her eyes open and filled with terror. Darrin dropped his sword and hurried to her side, pulling her into a hug. Charleen resisted at first, still throwing off the effects of her nightmare. But once she calmed a little, she leaned into his embrace gratefully. "It was so real," she whispered. "I thought he was coming after me." "No one will hurt you while I'm here," he said, smoothing back her honey colored hair. He held and rocked her until she calmed down and started drifting back to sleep. He started to pull away but her arms tightened around him. "Charleen?" "Don't go," she whimpered. "Please, stay with me." "But I...." he began, traces of his father's accent in his voice. "Please Darrin," she asked, looking up at him with a pleading gaze. The longer Darrin looked into her eyes, the more he felt his resolve weakening. "All right," he said, sitting on the bed next to her. "But only for a little while." Charleen nodded and settled down again, pillowing her head on his chest. Darrin wrapped his arm around her and held her close to him. She squirmed a little, trying to get comfortable in his embrace. But with all the moving around, her blanket fell down a little bit, revealing that she had taken off her dress and was now nude, at least above the waist. Darrin glanced down and immediately looked away. He could feel his cheeks heating up as he willed his eyes not to drift back to her uncovered breasts. Picking up the edge of the blanket with a shaking hand, he brought it back up to her neck and let out a sigh of relief. His relief was very short-lived, however, when she suddenly turned into his side, pinning his hand against her covered chest. Blushing even more, Darrin tried to remove his hand without touching her more than absolutely necessary. But even those small movements were starting to bring her out of the slumber she had fallen into. Darrin took in a deep breath and let it out very slowly, knowing he was stuck in that position until he could leave and praying he could keep himself under control. That control was tested almost instantly as she began to purr in his arms. The night actually passed in seemingly an instant with Darrin not even aware he had fallen asleep. Both he and Charleen were rudely awakened by an exclamation of surprise that came from the now open door. "What the hoo-ha hell is goin' on here?" Bunnie demanded, stalking over to the bed and pulling Darrin roughly out of it. "Mom?" Darrin asked, wincing from the very strong grip she had on his arm. He came quickly awake as he realized where he was. "This isn't what it looks like," he said, fearing what his mom must be thinking. "Oh I know EXACTLY what it looks like," Bunnie said, glaring between her son and the girl he had spent the night in bed with. "What else could it be when I find you under the covers with a girl whose clothes are all the way on the other side of the room?" "Under the covers?" Darrin asked slowly, the blush rising to his cheeks all over again. "But I was on top of them when I fell asleep!" "It's my fault," Charleen said timidly. "I had a nightmare, and didn't want to be left alone. I asked him to stay with me and he must have fallen asleep. Nothing else happened, honestly!" "Nothing?" Bunnie asked, arching an eyebrow. "I swear by my sword, nothing happened!" Darrin insisted. Bunnie nodded and let him go. "All right, I believe you," she said, though her anger was still evident. "But from now on, if she stays here any more, you will not be the one to watch over her, or you will not do it alone. Are we understood?" "Yes Mom," Darrin said, letting his head hang slightly. "Good. Now go take a shower and eat. Your father is waiting for you." "Yes Mom." "Oh, and tell your sister I'll be a little late today. I'm gonna have a little talk with your 'friend' here." Darrin looked worried and noticed Charleen had an even more worried look on her face. "Mrow?" she squealed, her eyes darting around fearfully. "Sorry," he mouthed at her before being pushed out of the room by his mother and the door slammed in his face. "This is not good." "Now then, sugah," Bunnie said, turning around and looking at the frightened feline. "You and me are gonna have a nice long talk."