#a tiny hedgehog stubbornly trying to move me

[balkanradfem]

Do you like hedgehogs?

I do! I love hedgehogs.

[real-life-pine-tree]

Leo Will Never Know: Stranded and Separated (9/?)

In an alternate timeline, Yugi indirectly prevented the events of Arc-V from ever happening. But how could this small change have an impact on a few selected people? A spin-off of the Arc-V Aftermath series. Based on the hilarious comic by @justanotherotakuandartist​​​​. Co-written with @violetganache42​​​​​.

Suddenly, a familiar face ran in. "Adrien?" Jesse asked. "What are you doin' here?"

"I'll explain later," Adrien replied. "Someone's coming in this direction!"

“What?” Jesse responded out of surprise.

Outside the Academy, Jesse and Adrian, along with Jaden, Alexis, Chazz, Syrus, Hassleberry, Jim, Crowler, and Bonaparte were all standing near the tan upper edge of the entrance to get a better view. They all reacted on who the person could be, but the students knew they have to help them whoever they are.

“Who is that?” Bonaparte asked as Jim, Adrian, Jesse, and Jaden all ran towards to the person’s location.

“Maybe it’s maintenance,” Crowler answered.

Off in the distance, their appearance became a bit more noticeable as they paced closer to Duel Academy. Sure enough, they were actually a “he” because of his teenage and masculine figure, but he looked like he had seen better days. His gray hair has gotten longer and reached past his shoulders and even sported spiky bangs messily sectioned off enough for his eyes to see. His face developed a five o’clock shadow and was scratched up on his cheeks, nose, and chin. He had a long, tattered, sandy-colored cloak over his shoulders, which was as long as his attire, consisting of a long-sleeved, green turtleneck shirt with torn cuffs of his sleeves, grayish-brown pants with rips and tears on each leg, desaturated yellow shoes, and goggles with orange lenses around his neck. With a twisted wooden cane in his hand for support, he stopped walking and gasped to see a sight he never thought he would see again.

“Duel Academy,” he muttered before waving his hands in the air to signal attention. “Anyone? Can you see me? I’m over here! I made it back!” Before he could continue, his eyes caught something flying against the direction he was heading. “Uh, oh. No! What are you? Where did you come from?”

Immediately after finishing his question, a Harpie Lady charged down and soared back up, knocking the teen off his feet as he yelled. She then turned around and aimed right back at her pray, who was worried that he was going to meet his unfortunate fate until…

“Get down!” Adrian yelled out as he pushed the teen to the ground to avoid getting hit. However, Harpie Lady’s claws on her feet penetrated Adrian’s clothes and dug into a few layers of his skin, leaving behind six scratches that could start bleeding at any second. He let out a pained shout as both teenage boys rolled on the sandy dunes before coming to a stop.

“That was quite the acrobatic maneuver,” Jim stated after he and Jesse met up with the two. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Adrian responded. “Just a minor flesh wound.”

Not satisfied with what she just did, Harpie Lady chuckled as she swerved back around to where the four were all grouped, believing that four preys would be better than just one.

“She’s comin’ back for seconds!” Jesse exclaimed. Once the remaining student caught up, he ran up in front of them, activated his Duel Disk, placed his deck into a compartment, and drew the top card. “I summon Sapphire Pegasus!” Rays of light shimmered from the image as a sapphire gem materialized into the dimension from a sparkling blue glow, which then bursted into tiny shards to reveal Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus. With his Main Phase complete, Jesse declared, “Take her down.”

“Okey doke,” Sapphire Pegasus acknowledged with a nod. He flew up to where Harpie Lady was and began his attack. “Try sticking your claws into this, you bird brain!” he shouted as he moved his head to use his sapphire blue horn as a sword to get her away. She flew farther away from him and was now higher above the ground, but her stone-cold gaze from her green irises was still locked onto the sand and a chuckle was heard from her devious smirk. She raised her left arm and moving kaleidoscopic images of her head faded in from behind her.

At that moment, Ray had rushed over as well. "Jesse, I told you I'll handle the minor threats!" she repeated as she activated her Duel Disk. "I'll handle the Harpie Lady my-"

Suddenly, a flash of golden light appeared on Harpie Lady, causing two more Harpie Ladies to materialize next to her. Ray gulped as she started looking through her deck.

"Still think you can take them down?" Jesse asked.

"O-Of course I can!" Ray stubbornly insisted. "You need to rest for bigger threats!"

"I hate to interrupt, but what's all this about?" Bastion questioned.

At that moment, Ray had an idea. "Bastion, do you still have your decks?" she asked.

"Of course," Bastion answered. "How else could I have survived being in this realm for so long?"

"Then get one of them out and give me some backup," Ray replied. "I hope you have a deck that can counter these Harpies."

"Very well," Bastion agreed. "I suppose now might be a good time to test out my new prototype Flamvell cards."

Prototype? Was that what he has been perfecting on ever since he started working with Dr. Eisenstein? Ray wondered what this Flamvell archetype is and Bastion explained it is going to mark the next chapter of Duel Monsters history; because it is not finalized, he added that there will be great changes to it in the near future after demonstrating it and tackling this major predicament they are all currently in.

Jaden noted on how Bastion needs to put the Flamvells into use because Harpie Lady is not done with her assault. Jesse agreed and for a good reason; although he has been listening to what the prototype is, he has also been getting a better understanding of what this dimension is. After watching Harpie Lady bring out two more of her, he realized not only can Duel Monsters and Spirits can come to life, but Spells and maybe even Traps can be utilized as well. It would explain why they’re now facing off against the Harpie Lady Sisters because she had just used Elegant Egotist to special summon them. What’s worse is the appearance of a golden yellow beam of light that rained down on them and equipping them with yellow plates of armor on their bodies. Once the light beam vanished, Harpie Lady and her two sisters all hovered above the group of Duelists as their ATK raised from 1950 to 2450. Jesse instantly recognized it as Cyber Shield and concluded that all the rules of the Duel Monsters card game applies to this dimension, and with their opponents using it to their advantage, they’re now stronger than Sapphire Pegasus.

The three Harpies all dashed to Sapphire Pegasus’ location and used their claws to slash and scratch him in all directions. Jesse yelled out his monster’s name out of concerned as he was forced to watch him easily getting overwhelmed. Rising back up in the air, the Harpie Lady Sisters all chuckled and finished their attack on their prey, using a total of three slashes to send him ricocheting to the ground. Bastion witnessed everything unfolding before his eyes and complied with Jaden about how he has to act fast if he was going to use his new cards to save his friends. He and Adrian both got up from the ground, and while the latter was receiving assistance from Jim, he asked Jesse if he could borrow his Duel Disk. Naturally, he obliged, taking it off his arm and handing it over while keeping it activated; there was no way they were going to end this battle right now because they need to turn it around.

"Ray, I need you to summon Hope Dragon Bird," Bastion said.

"Why her?" Ray asked.

"Because in order for my strategy to work, I need to borrow her," Bastion explained.

"Um... Okay," Ray agreed, not sure what Bastion was planning. "I summon Hope Dragon Bird!"

Hope Dragon Bird appeared on the field in a whirlwind of feathers. But when she saw what her opponents were, she looked surprised. "My goodness..." she said. "You expect me to take care of these monsters by myself?!"

"Calm down, Hope Dragon Bird," Ray said. "Bastion said he has a plan."

"Indeed, I do," Bastion confirmed. "I summon Neo Flamvell Hedgehog!"

A swirl of fire jetted out of a gleam of light and its flaming streaks spun around into a spiral until it condensed itself into a fiery ball, which then popped open to reveal Neo Flamvell Hedgehog, a Level 3 FIRE Pyro-Type monster with 800 ATK and 200 DEF. If it gets destroyed by battle, a card in the opponent’s Graveyard is removed from play, but if it’s destroyed by a card effect, a FIRE monster with 200 or less DEF in its owner’s Graveyard, except this card, is added to their hand. However, Bastion has no intentions of using it in battle as he was about to show them what he has been designing on right now.

"Okay Neo Flamvell Hedgehog, tune with Hope Dragon Bird!" Bastion commanded.

"Wait, tune...?" Ray asked. "Don't you mean fuse?"

"Not quite," Bastion explained. "I thought of a different type of special summoning, one that doesn't require Polymerization. Don't believe me? See for yourself."

Ray looked back at the two monsters, who were both in the sky and undergoing something new. Neo Flamvell Hedgehog changed into three light blue illuminating stars, which all shrank and regrew as three green rings that all aligned themselves and descended to Hope Dragon Bird. The rings proceeded to scan her, converting her into a glowing orange-yellow outline of herself and transforming into four more light blue stars. In almost an instant, a narrow green line of light passed through the rings and struck all four stars before rapidly expanding in size.

"This is the future of dueling!" Bastion announced. "Introducing a new type of card: Synchro monsters! Come on out and show everyone your power, Ancient Flamvell Deity!"

A silhouette of a monster emerged from the bright green light and jumped towards the ground, planting its left fist into the dunes and knelling on his right knee. It got up from the ground and crossed its arms; it appeared all shadowed, but that was due to the glare from the three suns this dimension has. The glare shifted angle to unveil a gargantuan being with brownish-bronze armor and golden linings all over its body and flames on top of its head and on its shoulders, elbows, fists, lower torso, knees, and feet. That monster was Ancient Flamvell Deity, a Level 7 FIRE Pyro-Type Synchro monster with 2500 ATK and 200 DEF. It requires a FIRE Tuner and one or more non-Tuner Pyro-Type monsters, but this summoning condition will not apply to any more Synchro monsters in the future. When successfully Synchro Summoned, it can remove from play cards that are in the opponent’s Graveyard equal to the number of cards in the player’s hand and gain 200 ATK for each card that has been removed from play.

Everyone was absolutely flabbergasted. "Wh-Wh-Wh-" Jaden stammered, his jaw dropped in surprise.

"What the heck is that thing?!" Jesse asked.

"A Synchro monster," Bastion repeated. "I created these cards as a side project. So far I was able to complete a few Flamvell Synchros, but the rest are currently in their beta phases. The developing process should be completed within a few weeks."

"You actually developed a new type of card?" Adrian asked. "That's incredible!"

Jaden, however, was still at a loss for words. "N-N-New...cards..."

"So why that monster?" Ray asked.

"Because Ancient Flamvell Deity has higher attack than the Harpie Lady Sisters," Bastion answered. "Now to demonstrate the power of Synchros! Attack with Volcanic Fire Eruption!"

The gold linings on Ancient Flamvell Deity's body signaled the commence of its attack as they luminated in a bright golden marigold hue and the flames increased in intensity. It rotated its body and stared directly at the Harpie Lady Sisters; the combination of the heightened glow and patches of fire led to the bronze armor to give off the impression that it was heating up. With a swift movement of its arms, it lept off the sand and aimed its fists at its opponents, where molten lava erupted from its body, rained down on each Harpie Lady, and and severely burning them to the point where they all exploded as a result of them being weaker than Ancient Flamvell Deity by only 50 ATK.

"So Ray, care to explain why you're out here when you should be in the nurse's office?" Jim asked.

"I guess I recover faster than I thought," Ray admitted with a shrug.

"That doesn't sound too good," Alexis said, voicing concern. "We need to take you back."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Ray insisted. "I'll be fi-"

Before she could finish her sentence, a sudden jolt of fatigue struck her head. She was having trouble keeping her eyes open, and as fast as it occurred, it began spreading to her entire body, making her limbs—especially her legs—feel weak and decreasing her balance stability. She tried to walk a little in order to head to a spot to rest until the fatigue subsides, but any movement as small as only a few steps only made her lowered balance worse. Right as she was falling into the sand, Chazz and Alexis caught her body and held onto her for support. It was obvious she woke up not because she rested up at a faster rate, but maybe because of something else that had recently took place back inside.

"Ray, you can't keep going like this," Alexis advised. "You're going to end up exhausted from overwork."

"But...I have to keep going..." Ray insisted, still being stubborn. "Bastion and I are the only ones without Bio Bands..."

"Bio Bands?" Bastion repeated. "What on earth is going on?"

"We'll explain everything back in the school," Adrian answered. Several minutes later, the students returned to Fonda’s office to report another injury, the identity of the person who was approaching Duel Academy, and a sleep-deprived Ray. Once everyone got situated, Bastion was given the information from his friends on how the school year has been going for them in regards to the Bio Bands and the dimension they are stuck in as of now. Although he was glad to see they are alright, he now has a better understanding of why he and Ray should handle the minor threats for the time being.

"I see..." Bastion remarked. "Very well. I'll help Ray out. I still have my six decks, so I can switch between them depending on the threat."

"So what brings you out here, Bastion?" Jaden asked.

"It's because I started working alongside Professor Eisenstein," Bastion explained. "While I was able to use his technology to create Synchro monsters, it was only a side project to the bigger picture: the idea that's based on the presumption that there exists 12 different dimensions. And one of them has a world where Duel Spirits live. That's where we are now."

"That explains a lot..." Chazz muttered as he glanced at his Ojamas.

"As we explored ways to this dimension, something went terribly wrong," Bastion continued. "It appeared that we had pierced an interdimensional vortex, thus triggering an incredible force of cosmic energy. The entire lab was consumed by a powerful light. When I regained consciousness, I found myself in a sandy no-man's land. And you, Jaden? How did you and the others arrive in this desolate world?"

Ray looked embarrassed. "Ray?" Bastion asked. "Why do you look so flushed all of a sudden?"

"It's kind of...my fault..." Ray admitted. "I defeated this crazy snake person in a duel and there was this huge flash of light afterwards."

"Come on, Ray," Jaden reassured. "It's not your fault. None of us knew he had a Bio Band."

"So there was a flash of light there as well?" Bastion questioned. "Interesting... So it seems we're all stranded here in this dimension."

"For the time being," Jaden added.

"Luckily my new Synchro Flamvells have provided protection against enemy Duel Spirits," Bastion continued, taking out his deck. "But I fear there is a greater threat coming."

"My Hope Dragons sense it too," Ray spoke up. "That's why I wanted to deal with minor threats. If those Bio Bands are still draining energy, it's best to duel wisely."

"So Ray, where's Michael?" Bastion asked. "I haven't seen him at all."

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Michael has been roaming around the island for quite a while, specifically in the vicinity of where the Academy used to be. He tried calling Ray—at least maybe a few times—see if she was okay and all of them had a common reply: there wasn’t any reply. Fearing the worst, he had been making desperate attempts to contact any of the students he has known the past few years to see if they could respond to him, but so far, he hasn’t gotten a single response because there was a high chance something was preventing the calls from being received on the other end. Every attempt he has made have been feeble until his eyes shifted away from the ground and up into the sky when he spotted something far away in the distance. It was getting nearer to the island, the sound of the propellers was growing louder, and if his guesses were correct, it was planning on landing on the helicopter bay where the dock is. Whoever is in the helicopter, he needed to inform them on what just took place while they were gone, so he proceed to run through the dense trees, taking a path that is closest to the Slifer Red dorm because it is adjacent to the bridge that leads to the dock.

As the helicopter approached the island, the massive crater came into the pilot’s viewpoint, who was left dumbfounded by the sight. “Chancellor Sheppard, you might want to see this,” he said while preparing to land the helicopter.

Less than a couple minutes later, Sheppard had gotten out of the helicopter, analyzing the crater in front of him. “I know the school was there when I left,” he recalled. “Oh, boy. Parents won’t like this.”

At that moment, Michael rushed over to Sheppard. "Chancellor, what's going on?!" the Magician user asked.

"I was going to ask you the same thing," Sheppard admitted. "What happened to Duel Academy?"

"How should I know?!" Michael asked in response. "I ended up oversleeping for nearly the whole day and when I woke up, everyone was gone!"

"What?" Sheppard asked. "Where were you?"

"I was-" Michael started to say. But then he remembered what happened to him last night and his eyes widened. "In my dorm room."

"So you were oversleeping in your dorm room?" Sheppard asked. "That means everyone else was still at the school."

"Including Ray," Michael added. "And I tried contacting the others, but they couldn't respond."

"That's good to know," Sheppard remarked. "Hopefully we can try to figure out what happened."

“Don’t move.”

An unfamiliar female voice cut their conversation short before they could deduce the cause and experiment with some kind of resolution. Sheppard and Michael faced at the landed helicopter, and without any time to react, a pale-skinned, gray-eyed woman dressed in a dark green marine attire charged out from below the vehicle. She initiated her attack by grabbing Sheppard’s yellow shirt collar and effortlessly flipping him onto the ground despite his size.

“Dear me!” he yelled as he was risen off the bay and landed back first. “I just had this pressed.”

"Quiet!" the woman threatened. "You're gonna help me find a student that was at this school!" She noticed Michael. "Who are you?"

"I'm Michael Lindonson," the Magician user answered, introducing himself. "Obelisk Blue, Senior Year."

The woman released her grip on Sheppard. "Lindonson, huh?" she repeated. "You must be one of the two famed Obelisk students everyone talks about. Where's the other one?"

"I'm not sure," Michael replied. "But-"

A strong gust of wind blasted the trio out of nowhere and it was quickly followed by the sounds of propellers. “What in the—?!” the woman called out.

Up in the sky, another helicopter had appeared during their dispute, hovering over the bay. Two ropes were thrown out of the doors and two men dressed in black suits and shades—one with a black buzzcut and one with spiky brunette hair—held onto them as they descended near Sheppard, Michael, and the woman were. They were ready to engage in counterattacks because of how she was willing to take Sheppard as hostage just to find who this student is; seeing them as a threat, she ran towards them and threw a couple punches, which proved ineffective since they easily dodged them and relocated her arms behind her back.

With her now restrained, Sheppard got up to see where they came from. “Who are you?” he asked.

Michael pointed up to the airborne helicopter and told him to look at who was in it. There stood a fair-skinned man with straight, silver hair that covered his left eye while leaving his right brown eye exposed. He also wore a red suit underneath a long-sleeved, white, frilled shirt with a thin, black bowtie around the collar, and white shoes. They both instantaneously recognized him the moment they laid eyes on him.

“Pegasus?” Sheppard surprisingly questioned before smiling as he continued. “To what do I owe the pleasure? I’m so honored.”

Michael’s jaw was left ajar, not believing what he was seeing. He recalled him and Ray seeing glimpses of Jaden helping him and Chumley retrieving the prototype copy of the Winged Dragon of Ra from a renegade Industrial Illusions card designer and heard rumors last year of how he dueled Crowler and Bonaparte later on. One year later and he is now meeting the man who created it all at a time of need. The president of Industrial Illusions and the creator of Duel Monsters, Maximillion Pegasus himself.

"I received a rather urgent message from KaibaCorp," Pegasus explained. "They said something about the academy, or lack there of."

"Do they know the whereabouts of the school?" Sheppard asked.

"Currently there isn't much information to share," Pegasus reported. "But we do know that many of the students are missing, including Jaden Yuki and his gangle of friends. Now then, we need to get to the bottom of this, and I think I know where to start digging."

But before he could have the pilot land the helicopter in order to commence investigation, he turned his head away from the crater and to where Michael was standing, who was still rendered speechless at being in the presence of one of the biggest icons in Duel Monster history. Pegasus wasn’t entirely sure if he has seen this particular student before yet there was something about him that reminded him of something he heard about last year.

"Have we met?" Pegasus asked.

Michael took a deep breath. "Sort of," he answered. "I'm Michael Lindonson. Obelisk Blue, Senior Year."

"Michael Lindonson..." Pegasus repeated. "So you're the one Seto Kaiba met. Didn't he give you a new Fusion dragon?"

"He did," Michael confirmed. He took out Starving Venom from his deck. "He gave me this card to help me defeat the Society of Light."

So it was true. He had a feeling this teen was the same Michael who obtained Starving Venom, but for the purpose of defeating the Society of Light? He must be a really powerful Duelist, especially since he and Ray are the two best students in Obelisk Blue and two of the best in the entire Academy. Now that he thought about it, he was uncertain if Ray was still around; Michael explained she hasn’t been around ever since he got up, and if what Pegasus said earlier was true, then she is most likely with Jaden, his friends, and the many other students who have vanished. Much to his embarrassment, a part of him felt like he was not going to live this down for a while.

"Don't worry, Michael," Pegasus said. "I'll help you get your friends back."

"Thanks...sir," Michael replied as he bowed slightly.

[disrepairhouse]

Chapter 17 - Petty Revenge

Itara took a step back, watching with barely contained amusement as one of the many museum patrons took a step closer to the large oil painting in front of him.  A red, velvet rope hung on golden poles around it, keeping the painting out of reach, but the man stepped as close as he could without crossing the line, studying the large painting of a flaming bird closely.

Though Itara stood alone at the moment, her group was nearby, studying a marble sculpture.  They’d answered all the questions on their packets and had decided to explore and examine some of the pieces they hadn’t before.  The main lobby was directly to their left so they wouldn’t be far when it got close, and because of this Sparky had decided to take a rest on one of the nearby benches.  He sat to Itara’s right and she backed up towards him until she sat on the metal bench beside him.  He eyed her as she did, noting the look of trouble easily enough.

“What are you up to, Left-Foot?”

“Me?  Nothing, nothing at all, Sparky,” she responded rather matter-of-factly, keeping her sights on the painting.  He eyed her suspiciously, eventually following her line of sight to the painting. He studied it, comparing it to a file online to see if something was different about it, but saw nothing… at first. But then, he swore, the painting shifted.  It was subtle, and even he hadn’t been sure at first, but upon reviewing his optical files he confirmed that it did, in fact, shift ever so slightly.  The bird’s beak moved a centimeter to the left to stare at the man studying it.  The man also seemed to catch something, but with the shake of his head, he dismissed it, much to the tiny hedgehog’s amusement.

“You are planning something.”

“Nope.  Not me.”

“…Where is the possessed doll?”

A grin spread across Itara’s face before it vanished again, “I wonder…”

So that was it.  Looking towards the painting again, he had only enough time to stand back up before the room’s lights flashed, drawing everyone’s attention.

“That’s strange… it’s only this room,” one of their group, who had been closer to the entrance lobby, commented.

“What happened?” Sceira questioned.

“The lights are flashing.  But only in here.”

Another quick smirk flashed across Itara’s face, which only Metal caught, as the lights stopped flashing and dimming down instead. As it dimmed, a deep red glow emanated from the painting of the bird, causing the man near it to jump and move away, drawing the attention of the others, as well.

“What…”

“What’s going on?”

“What is that?”

For whatever reason, Metal could find no discernable reason why, the group of children flocked back to him, keeping him between them and the painting.  Did they think he would protect them?  How funny. Itara, on the other hand, remained in place and just watched the painting with intrigue and amusement. She was hardly trying to keep it off her face.

As the darkened room drew attention from others in connecting rooms, including museum staff, the painting shifted once again, less and less subtly until the great, flaming bird turned to face directly out and screeched. Both children and adults screamed in horror around them, the man that had been closest scrambled away in terror, and the security that had run in stared in baffled confusion.  The children huddled further behind Metal, who eyed them quizzically before returning his gaze to the painting, scanning it for the doll’s signature.

The oil in the painting reeled back from the bird’s flames as it neared the unseen wall between them, screeching and cawing so loudly that mobians and humans alike shielded their ears.  Even Itara’s ears flattened against the noise, but she remained still as the bird’s claws and beak scratched and stabbed at the barrier of the painting.  The canvas charred as flames engulfed the wooden frame, grasping at the white wall behind it.  Children screamed in horror and security ran for fire extinguishers, though they had no effect on the ghostly flames spreading across the wall.

“W-We should… g-get outta here!” one of the children of the group yelped, gaining a side-eyed glance from Metal, who waved him away.

“Off with you, then.  Nothing’s keeping you here.”

“But-!”

“Come on, Val, let’s just go!”

The group of five, Sceira in tow, ran yelling from the room, leaving Itara and Metal standing near the bench, watching curiously as the bird finally smashed through its barrier and screamed out of the painting, diving for the nearest security guard.  Itara could feel the heat coming off its body, but as it swooped in and around the room, the lights cut out entirely for all of a split second before coming back on… and both the fire and the bird vanished.  The red glow was gone and the painting, frame, and wall returned to normal. A shadow behind the painting shifted, unseen by all but Itara, who carefully set her backpack on the ground, watching the shadow skirt around the edges of the room and melt into the side of her backpack.  She picked it up and returned it to her back without a word, looking up at Metal, who stared down at her incredulously.  She only offered an ‘innocent’ smile before walking off towards the lobby.

“We should meet back up with our group.”

“What was even the point of that?”

“I don’t know why you’d think I’d know.  I did nothing.”  And yet, she sounded so utterly satisfied with herself that Metal believed exactly none of it.  He would question her further about it later, answering now risked someone overhearing.

They continued out to the lobby, greeted with the staring, horrified faces of many museum patrons, much of Itara’s class, included. Itara wiped the amusement off her face quickly enough but Metal’s own look of boredom never changed.

“What was that?!”

Itara shrugged, walking back over to her terrified group, one of which was explaining everything that happened in explicit and horrified detail to the blind, confused pseudoscorpion.  Camilla and Susan were amongst the group that had been standing nearby, staring, and neither Itara nor Metal missed the looks of suspicion they both gave them, though neither seemed overly concerned about it, either.  None of them said anything, and as museum curators and security, alike, went running to the ‘haunted’ room, the main teacher decided it best that they skip their presentations and move on to their lunch location.  It was still early and therefore the lunch they’d ordered wouldn’t be meeting them for another hour or so, but they decided it was best to let the children rest after such a ‘terrifying’ experience in a nice, open park.

Few of the children had qualms with this plan and only Susan voiced opposition to it amongst the chaperones.  Ultimately, it was decided they could give their presentations during lunch to their classmates and moved out of the museum. Itara wasn’t sure how she felt about giving the presentation at a park, where more people were likely to be, but it was worth it.  Sceira looked terrified.

With the class grouped back together, the smaller groups dispersed amongst the crowd again during the walk, though remained in a relatively straight line along the way.  Both Metal and Itara remained near the back, not for lack of keeping up in Metal’s case, but to keep as much distance between him and the others as possible.  Itara, however, was just slow.  Though the city was on flatter ground than the outer edges of Soleanna, the walk was still decently long and Itara was easily the shortest amongst her classmates, even mobians.  When she slowed further, incidentally falling back by Metal, he stared down at her with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m not carrying you like RK.”

Her face flushed, “I d-didn’t want you to!”

“So you’re just slow.”

“You’re slow!”  His gaze turned from amused to furious at the accusation, but Itara crossed her arms and looked away, “In fact, I bet with all the damage you’ve taken, Sonic’s faster than you now.”

“Take that back.”

She was edging into dangerous territory, and almost regretted looking up at him when she did, but stubbornly doubled-down instead of doubling back.  Puffing her cheeks out, she scoffed, “You’re just fast compared to RK because he’s built for impact rather than speed.  I bet Sonic’s way faster than you now, being all out of shape and lazy as you are.”  She glanced over, not seeing him at first, and looked back to realize he’d stopped. His eyes were narrowed dangerously and glowing brightly.  Even in the bustle of the city, she could hear his systems whirring and turned all the way around, putting her hands on her hips, “what are you doing?  Don’t do anyth-.”  But long before she could finish her sentence, the wind was suddenly knocked clean out of her and the world rushed by in a flurry of colors and puddles of shapes.  Her head spun and she felt sick to her stomach, similar to when she first learned to time travel, and reached up to grab her head.

By the time she could think to close her eyes, however, the world came crashing back into view, though her head was spinning so badly she was convinced she was still moving.  She wasn’t even sure when she got put back on the ground, but felt the rough warmness of sand and the dry wind soon enough and reached out to grab onto the soft ground to try and stabilize herself again.

“Who’s slow now?”

It took her several minutes to look up at the towering, angry robot, but fell back against the sand as soon as she did, staring dizzily up at him.  “B-Bite… me… S-Sparks…”

Metal huffed in amusement and stood back up straight, staring out at the wide open desert before them.  The city was several miles behind them and the nearest tree several miles in the opposite direction.  The wind whipped sand around and the sun beat furiously down on them, Metal grunted at his heating systems but Itara only laid and basked in the warmth.  It had been so cold lately, and while the wind was still biting, the sun felt incredible.  After some time, she sat back up and looked out towards the desert, watching the shifting dunes, reaching up to brush the sand from her quills.

“I found that scepter in an area similar to this, you know.”

She looked up curiously, then back out at the horizon, “I’m surprised you’ve retained that memory.  RK couldn’t remember the base that I rescued him from because of the reset. I had to fill it in for him.”

There was silence again before Itara sighed and stood up, brushing the rest of her quills and clothes clean, “but to answer your earlier questions, I asked Kipper to help me get some revenge.  It was 100% worth it to see the fear on Sceira’s face both when everything was happening and when it was being described to her. Plus, it might be difficult for Kipper to activate much during this trip due to the hotel room setup so I wanted to give him something to do, as well.”

“That doll is increasingly reckless considering how careful we have to be about our situation,” Metal glared back towards the backpack that housed said doll.

“Maybe… but people are more willing to overlook things when it comes to ghosts.  They don’t like believing in them and will more often than not come to their own more ‘rational’ conclusion.  So I think letting Kipper have some fun every so often is fine, as long as he doesn’t bother anyone in our neighborhood.”

“If you say so.  Not that I care, as long as I remain out of Robotnik’s reach I couldn’t care less.”

Itara basked in the sun a bit longer before finally turning towards Metal fully, “we should return before our absence is noticed.  It likely already has been…”

Metal smirked and reached down, pulling the hedgehog up by the waist, much to her displeasure, “we can just say something caught your attention.”

“Why me?”

“Because I’m not so easily distracted from a mission.”

Itara huffed, but closed her eyes as soon as she heard his systems whirring again, wanting to avoid as much dizziness as possible this time. At least she knew what was coming. She had been joking earlier about him being slow, having said it mostly to get on his nerves, but now she was actually curious what his highest speed capped out at.  It could be important later.  What with the monsters reappearing, Sonic being active again, and that new robot working for Robotnik, it might be best if both Sparky and RK were in prime fighting condition.  Just as a precaution.

When they returned to the city again their group had only just reached the park, gathering in a larger, open area away from other people while the head teacher gave out commands regarding their ‘break’. Itara heard exactly none of anything that was being said, as she was still trying to keep her head on her shoulders after the run.  Metal rejoined them as inconspicuously as possible, only running to just outside the park and then walking the rest of the way to keep as much suspicion off as he could manage.  Luckily only a couple parents towards the back of the group had even noticed him walking up and paid little mind to it.

The kids were going to be given about twenty minutes to regain their bearings and discuss their presentations, whatever they had of them, and at the thirty-minute mark, they would give them, going in group number order.  Metal checked his log for their own group number, and after counting the dispersing kids, realized they were the last group.  That both slightly annoyed him, the idea of going last, but at the same time it mattered little to him.  He wasn’t actually involved in any of this.  He wasn’t going to be doing anything except staying as far away from everyone as he could get.  He almost debated just going for a run around the city while Itara did her little ‘presentation’.  Maybe get an updated layout of the city, for his personal records.

Having made his decision, he set Itara back down, watching her stumble for a minute, before explaining, “I’m going for a quick run. Don’t cause trouble while I’m gone.”

Itara looked up at him with an eyebrow rose, Metal smirking when her eyes were still somewhat spinning from the run.  “We just got back from a run, where are you going now?”

“Wait, you’re leaving us?” Sceira questioned, catching Metal and Itara’s attention as they realized their group had rejoined them.

“Just for a couple minutes, if even that.  You can handle your little project on your own, you have thus far.”

“You can’t just leave us unattended,” the scorpion argued, much to Metal’s irritation.  Shouldn’t she know better than to argue with her elders?  Then again, Itara argued with anyone, but he figured that was just her. As small as she appeared, she was actually much older than everyone around her.  Not that she always acted like it.

“There are several adults around you, you’ll be fine. If you can’t be trusted alone for a couple minutes then perhaps you shouldn’t have been trusted on such a trip in the first place,” Metal eyed her, though realized the pointlessness of such an act when Itara not-so-subtly waved her hands in front of her own eyes. Metal studied the grey-skinned little girl for a moment, noticing the rather obvious film over her eyes and the pincers she’d pulled into pigtails.  “What kind of mobian are you, exactly?  You don’t look like a normal scorpion.”

“I’m not,” Sceira responded, her pincers moving up and around her, causing Itara to subconsciously flinch and step away. “Apparently I’m referred to as a ‘pseudo’ scorpion.  We’re smaller and less lethal than normal scorpions; we’re also commonly blind, as you can likely tell.  My father is a normal scorpion, but my mother is a pseudo.”

“Interesting…,” it was the first time Metal Sonic had seen such a creature.  “In any case, I’m going to go stretch my legs.  I’ll be back in two minutes, work on your projects and don’t cause trouble.” Before any of the kids could argue further, he took off in a ‘light’ jog, planning to speed up once he was out of their eyesight.

Once he was gone, Itara sighed, reaching up to scratch the back of her ear, “he’s such a problem child.  Anyway, let’s get this stupid presentation thing done with already, I need a nap.  And a cookie.”

Her classmates eyed her strangely, but she ignored them and pulled the worksheet from her backpack to get the presentation started. Honestly, she didn’t even know where to begin with any of it and hoped the others would do most of the work, she didn’t exactly like the idea of public speaking, she barely liked normal speaking.  Unfortunately, Sceira was relentless in getting her involved, despite her many protests, and Metal had returned long before they ever finished and apparently thought it was amusing to also get her more involved than she ever needed to be. At least she managed to talk them out of having her be the main speaker, considering not even Sceira wanted to hear her stutter through it all, but she ended up writing most of the presentation.  She was only glad they were going last so she had the time to tweak what they had wrong.

When it finally came time for them to present theirs, Itara remained as far back as she could manage without escaping entirely while her classmates explained the pieces they had studied at the museum.  However, as they were standing in front of the entirety of the rest of their class, and Itara stared off in every other direction, something off in the distance caught her attention.  It was over the line of trees behind her watching class, off to the side a bit, a small, reddish-purple creature popping up and over the trees for a second before disappearing behind them again.

She focused in on it, narrowing her eyes, ignoring her classmates now, waiting for the creature to pop up again.  It wasn’t so much its appearance that struck a nerve with her… it was the energy it was giving off.  It felt familiar, yet not at the same time, and she couldn’t quite place it. After a moment, the creature popped back up again, a small burgundy and white, almost fox like mobian, with little green wings.  It floated above the tree line, scanned the area, and then dropped back down again. Something about it put Itara’s nerves on edge.

Luckily or not, her attention was drawn away from it when Sceira nudged her, letting her know the presentation was done and they were free to relax until lunch.  It was the only positive sentence she’d ever heard from Sceira the entire time she’d known her.  As the rest of her class scattered around the park, Itara marched over to Metal, who was standing under the nearest tree, his eye lit up as he stared off.

“Hey, Sparky,” she called, reaching up to smack the side of his arm, receiving a glare in return.  “I need you to look into something.”

“And if I choose not to?”

Itara huffed, glaring up at him, “there’s a strange creature here with a familiar energy signature and it could be related to the other things.”

“Too bad for you, RK specifically told me to keep you out of that other things trouble.  So unless it confronts us directly, I’m choosing to ignore it.”

“Why do you listen to RK so easily but ignore everything I say?!”

“Simple, I trust RK more.”

“No, you just don’t wanna get hit again,” Itara hissed.

“You think I’m afraid of RK?  Please,” Metal hissed in return, “He may be built stronger, but I do not fear him. Back when we were both still active, before going rogue, he was my only sparring partner, the only other robot strong enough to fight me. I don’t fear him, I look forward to fights with him.”

“Uh-huh, sure.  If you don’t fear him, then help me look into the thing.”

“I am not so easy to trick, Daughter of Mephiles.  Now go play with all your kiddy friends, I have work to do.”

Itara’s spines stood on end at the insult, her fists curling as her cheeks puffed.  However, instead of wasting her time with retorts, she stormed off towards the trees where she saw the creature, “fine.  If you won’t look into it, I’ll do it myself.”  However, before she could get far, the ground beneath her rather suddenly disappeared and she found herself face-to-face with the unamused robot, “p-put me down!”

“Not a chance.  Stay where I can see you, troublemaker… and put those spines down before I start calling you a porcupine.”

“I am not a porcupine!”

Metal smirked, but set her back down, watching with amusement as she tried flattening her spines and fur but only worsened them the huffier she got, muttering angrily under her breath the entire time. Eventually, she gave up and screeched out in frustration, getting a short chuckle out of the robot.  “I hate you.”

“Good.  Now go play with your friends like a proper child.”

“Go jump in the ocean,” Itara growled, turning on her heel and storming off.  Not necessarily towards the rest of her classmates, she had no interest in them, either, but away.  Instead, she went to find a place to hide out of sight so she could talk to Kipper. On her way to find said hiding spot, however, the other source of her constant irritation cut her off, refusing to move when she threatened them to do so.

“Like I’m afraid of you,” Camilla mused, crossing her arms and standing taller, just to tower over Itara that much more.  Sceira and a couple other girls from Camilla’s group were standing around her, as always.  “I bet you had something to do with what happened at the art museum, didn’t you?  I don’t know how, but trouble follows you like a shadow.”

“How could I possible have done that?  D-Don’t be stupid,” Itara growled, not in the mood for mockery.  “And I’d prefer Shadow didn’t follow me, either.”  Apparently that joke went entirely over their heads as they all looked at her strangely.  She briefly wondered if any of them even knew who Shadow was.  As involved as he often was with bigger problems, he wasn’t exactly as well-known as Sonic.  She rolled her eyes but took a step towards them, intending to walk past them, but neither Camilla nor any of the others moved out of her way.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Itara remained silent for a moment, going over several possible responses, eventually looking up and grinning, “Oh, you know, just off to reawaken an Ancient God so it can destroy the world.  Nowhere interesting.”  She hoped that came off as much of a joke as she mostly meant it, but worried for a couple minutes that they might take her seriously.  While the Ancient Gods were active lately, she had nothing to do with it for once.  Though she wouldn’t put it past Camilla or Sceira to try and pin it on her somehow, anyway.

Not that she wouldn’t love to show them her true power someday, either.

Someday, if she ever got full control of her powers again, she wanted to show them why they should fear her. Show them the mistakes they’ve been making, by ostracizing her so much.  Even her ‘guardians’ were two Robotnik-created ex-killer robots, one of which assisted her in destroying the world once before.  Just because they were trying to lay low now, just because she didn’t have her powers anymore, didn’t mean they were average in any way.  Didn’t mean they shouldn’t be feared.

But that wasn’t an example she could give at the time. For now, she just had to hope Camilla picked up on her sarcasm and didn’t push it any further.

Camilla stared her down, but as she spoke again, a distant, inaudible shout from across the field drew both their attention… a few seconds too late as a bright red disk careened directly at them.  The speeding round object struck Itara dead in the middle of the forehead first, bounding off and cracking against Camilla’s face, sending both of them crashing back into the dirt, more so from the shock and panic rather than the force of the plastic object lying between them.

There was a moment of silence as a small group of classmates sped over, likely the ones throwing the Frisbee, before a chorus of barely contained laughter broke out.  There were only giggles from the girls that had been following Camilla, though Sceira stood in confused silence, but from the parents and kids that had caught sight of the event, muffled laughter erupted.  Some less muffled than others.  The kids that were running over apologized, trying not to join the laughter, while Susan bolted over to check on Camilla.

“I’m so sorry!” the boy at the lead of the Frisbee group exclaimed, swiping his Frisbee up and hiding it behind his back, “I didn’t mean to throw it that hard!  Are you two okay?”

Camilla recovered quicker than Itara, who scowled hatefully up at the boy, her mom helping her up and obsessively checking for injuries. “That hurt, you jerk!”

“I’m sorry!”

Itara shook her head, reaching up to rub her forehead and briefly scowled up at the boy before pushing herself up to her feet, “next time just aim for Camilla and leave me out of it.”  She was done with everything today already, including this entire conversation, she was leaving.  She waited until Camilla and Susan created a ruckus before slipping away from all of them, half feeling sorry for the boy who threw the Frisbee.  As much as that hurt, she somehow felt the brute force of the other two’s rage was too harsh of a punishment for knocking Camilla over, especially considering Camilla only got the bounce.  But she wasn’t overly concerned with it, either.  She wanted to find her quiet spot away from everyone to talk to Kipper.