(Adventures of Asonja and Zazzy) with Sonicsilva1 and SilverKnight01

Participants
Silverknight01= Zazzy Mace

sonicsilva1 = Asonja the Hedgehog

Prologue
It was a cool evening, with the sun setting over the horizon. Zazzy was lounging on a fluffy recliner, legs thrown over the arm rests as she leafed through a book. It had been a long day at training, and a few of her limbs were mildly sore. But that didn't matter, infact, She didn't care. She was quite happy at the moment. Reading the latest issue of Martia Steworg. Whoever the heck she is.

A black hedgehog was sitting by himself under an umbrella, drinking a Cheerwine soda. With all of his black clothing on and the hot temperatures, he must be smoldering but he didn't care. He had his head back, seeming to groan quietly occasionally.

Stretching out her limbs, she sighed and hopped up. Stiffing a groan as her muscles protested the work. Promptly setting her magazine and heading to her kitchen for a snack.

The hedgehog yawned and went to his kitchen as well to refill his soda. He opened the fridge, showing massive amounts of unopened Ramen Packets and Root Beer bottles. He picked out the Root Beer, opened it with a bottle opener and swigged it entirely. "Ugh...Cheerwine is better but this is all I can afford now..." He grumbled before throwing the unclean empty bottle behind him on the couch that was filled with other bottles and Ramen packets.

''Off in a distant land, on the grounds of an unknown planet. Something stirred. A vortex opened wide and stretched out across the stars. The rift appearing in the world of Mobius. Invisible to the naked eye, the one-way portal lay in wait of a rather unfortunate victim. ''

Zazzy was sadly one of those unfortunate souls. Her quarters was littered with boxes and trash. Random assortments of wrappers and clean cloths could be found virtually everywhere. All to absorbed in her cookie box, she stumbled and tripped. But strangely, she didn't land with a familiarly painful THUD! Infact, she vanished altogether in one swift pop!

The hedgehog on his messy apartment was watching TV with a root beer in his hand. He got up and yawned. "I wonder if I can buy dinner from the pizza parlor down the street..." He mutters before opening his door to go outside. However, he didn't show up outside at all; he vanished entirely as well.

''They both were sucked into a wormhole of sorts. Rocketing them light-years across space in mere seconds. The sensation was strange, like trying to swim in Jello. But regardless, it didn't affect the speed of impact as the portal dumped the duo into a lagoon in the middle of who-know-where.''

(Chapter 1) -An Old World
Sputtering, Zazzy resurfaced from the water. Cookies that landed were barely floating on the surface of the sea. Sinking as they became too soggy from the salt water. The feline was emitting a mild electrical currant. Causing her to shock anything within a short radius of her location... Including herself. Convulsing a bit, She quickly paddled as fast has her limbs would take her to shore. "I.HATE. WATER." She managed to hiss out.

Suddenly, a black hedgehog landed next to her on his side, making a painful THUD near a sharp rock. He groaned in pain and curled there. "Argh...God...That's the last time I'm drinking Vodka with Root Beer..." He grumbled, trying to get up. She noticed the hedgehog who said this looked to be an underage drinker of 16-17. He had a few scars here and there under his trench coat sleeves, but he hid them. "Where the hell am I..." He mutters.

She was only startled for a few moments. But after a few moments of inspection, she relaxed."OH! Are you okay?!" She asked, scooting over to pat him down for injuries. Personal space was a myth in this cat's book. "Oh gosh. You land here like me? Weird huh?! Wonder what dragged us here? Why do you smell like beer? Stuffs' not good for you, ya'know." She rambled on. Suddenly noticing a long scar peeking out from under one of Asonja's sleeves, she instinctively reached over and yanked part of his sleeve up. "OOooh gosh. The rocks cut you up good!" the wide eyed kitty commented. Oblivious to what they actually were.

He sighed and pulled his arm away. "I appreciate you checking on me, but...that's not rock wounds. I did that myself..." He muttered, seeming to trail off a bit. He was oddly afraid of speaking to her, and was blushing a little after she checked him for injuries.

Her nose scrunched up. Confusion racked her poor brain. "Why? Are you clumsy like me? I hurt myself all the time. Its kinda unsettling, actually." the cat said. Nabbing her shoe and pulling it off. "Check out my toe. Slammed the door on my foot. Pretty nasty bruises." She said, wiggling her purplish toe. Not bothering to put the shoe back on, she started wringing out her hair. Salt water dripping in little streams from the strands.

"Yeah that's uh...great." He says, a bit creeped out. Not to mention the confusion of his whereabouts were still a mystery. "What's your name, by the way? You seem like a nice person who can understand me..."

"Dawww. Thanks." She gushed, fanning one of her hands in dismissal. "My NAME is Zazulla-" She replied, face scrunched up in displeasure. "-But seriously. What kind of name is that?! So most my friends just call me Zazzy." The cat grinned from ear to ear, gently elbowing the hedgehog on the shoulder. "What about chu'?"

He barely showed much emotion, but he had a slight smile. It was almost unnoticeable. "Asonja. That's my name. I honestly consider it to be a...strange name myself. I like a name called Zazzy better than my own."

"Oooh. Sounds exotic. I LIKE IT!" Zazzy squealed. Shaking free the last of the water from her pelt. "So, where do you suppose we are...?" She asked, turning to a more serious tone.

He blinked, surprised at her sudden mood change. He looked around, thinking deeply. "I know where this is...but I'm not supposed to know. We're in the town of Salem in the colony of Massachusetts Bay. That could only mean we have been transported back in time to when Humans dominated the planet. This can't be correct..." He looked back at Zazzy. "There could be something or someone disorienting time as we know it and are sent here to either fix it, or be trapped in the corrupted past." He pushed up his glasses, seeming to make his pupils disappear with the dramatic flash.

Zazzy puckered her lips. As she processed the info, her tail swung back and forth, digging a little trench in the sand she was sitting on. "Weird, Are you certain the time disorientation was caused by a person? Or maybe a thing? Could this have just happened on accident?" She said, optimistically. Giving someone the benefit of a doubt.

"Perhaps. But we'll never know for certain. For now, we need to fix the events that are happening right now, or time will become disrupted forever. Let's get going." He says, helping her stand up by holding her hands. He almost immediately let go of her hands, hiding a blush by looking at the ocean to his right.

"Thanks! So, where to start? Its not like there a beacon with trumpets screaming the X that marks the spot on the map.." She spouted strangely, doing the jazz hands for effect. Zazzy wasn't good at metaphors. Or being sarcastic for that matter. She almost forgot to put on her boot. Which she promptly did, trying to dust off as much as sand as possible before putting it on again.

He looked back at her, his blush vanishing. "True. But I know exactly where this is and what event should be happening; the Salem Witch Trials. It all started with a slave named Tituba. She should be showing the girls her rituals of her homeland, Barbados in India. They should be in the forest by now, but I don't see anyone..." He looked around.

"Weird. Wonder if they're hiding? Also, how do you know all this stuff anyway?" She bombarded. Then suddenly gasped. "Oooh. Our friends aren't alive in this time period. Theres probably not any Mobians around either!" Zazzy pouted. Only JUST then realizing that fact.

"Yeah. Human History. I studied it for a long time. And yes, none of our friends are alive. It's just the two of us, the first two Mobians to exist." He adds.

Zazzy finally got her darned boot on her foot, and promptly shook her leg to make sure it was on tight. "Wowza. Thats pretty neat. We'll make our mark on history!" She said, smiling.

He turned to her, glaring. "We cannot change the past into the way we want. We have to fix it entirely. We're not going here to dilly-dally. I'm sorry but the past isn't anything to break. It's like precious china."

The kitty's face flushed from embarrassment. "I-im sorry..? I meant that as a positive thing.. Ya'know?" She mumbled. "So. We need to find this Tituba person..?" Zazzy asked, trying to recover from her last conversation crash.

He sighed a little. "Sorry, I'm a Debby Downer at times. I just focus on the serious part of things and not the positive. It's a long and painful process to fix..."

Zazzy seemed to understand this. But a flash of determination sparked in her eyes. "Well! We better get cracking then! No time to loose. Heheh. I made a joke there." She laughed. "But seriously, we need to fix this."

"Indeed, we must fix this. We must find the forest Tituba and the young girls are located. Keep a low profile or else we'll be caught and...well...lets just say things will not go well as planned." He states, and walks in the middle of town.

Zazzy perked up. "NICE!" She yelled. Before realizing she should be quiet. Cringing she pretended to zip her lips. "I mean...Nice." She whispered. As she tiptoed after Asonja.

Asonja just walked normally. Not many people took attention, but the way that they were dressed were highly different. "Keep in mind Zazzy, women do not have a good reputation here in the Massachusetts Bay colony." Asonja says normally. "They're always accused of witchcraft, but that hasn't happened yet. The Salem Witch Trials will occur very soon. We just have to get Mr. Parris to go into the forest to catch Tituba showing his children and nieces her 'witchcraft'. You understand?"

Zazzy paused for a moment. "We're not actually going to help a man harm some poor woman..?" She frowned. "..Are we?"

"According to the history books after Tituba was accused of witchcraft, she was whipped to death by Mr. Parris, her master. We have to let that happen." He responds. "I'm sorry but the Salem Witch Trials are nothing but death and despair. 19 women, 1 man, and 2 dogs were accused of witchcraft and were killed. Hundreds of others were jailed."

The cats ears seemed to droop along with her tail. "...Ok." She said uncharacteristically. Zazzy's sadness was almost thick enough to form its own rain-cloud.

He patted her head for a moment. "Don't worry about it. It's not going to be us. All we have to do is alert Mr. Parris about what's going on and everything will go as planned." He tried keeping her mood up.

"I..i know." She said softly. "I'm. trained. to do these kinds of things...everyday." Zazzy choked out. "I can do this." she continued. Seeming more to be convincing herself than Asonja. Putting on a brave face, she sucked it up and brazenly march on.

"Hmm...you have quite the determination. Mr. Parris' house is this way though." He points in the other direction.

The feline snorted. "I er. 'Ment to do that." She said, turning heal and sticking to Asonja's side.

He chuckled a little and went back to leading. Once they got to the door, he stopped her. He was about to aim for the chest but quickly saved it and went to her stomach to stop her. He sighed and screamed internally at the thought of not saving his arm. He sighed audibly and turned to her. "So, this is it. And note that electricity hasn't even been found yet. So...it's going to be a bit dark when we enter. Just follow my lead, alright?" He knocked on the door, and says with a freaked out tone. "Mr. Parris open up! We have important news!"

Catching on very quickly, Zazzy copied Asonja's sense of panic. But was maybe a bit over the top. "A Witch! A horrible Witch, I dare say!" She screeched in her best impression of a British accent. It was a bit over the top, as a tear seamlessly rolled down her muzzle and she fanned herself as if she might swoon.

Asonja looked at her rather amazed, but worried she went too far. Suddenly, Mr. Parris emerged from his door, looking at the two horrified. "A witch you say?!" He responds, but rather quietly. "Where is she?!"

"Just in that forest." Asonja says, pointing West. "We believe we saw your daughter and niece dancing with Tituba!"

Mr. Parris gasped and pushed them aside running to the forest. "BETTY! ABIGAIL! I'M COMING TO SAVE YOU FROM WITCHCRAFT!" His voice faded when he got into the forest. A portal appeared in front of Asonja and Zazzy, indicating another time rift. "That one was easy; people are idiots here..."

"YEAH! Team Zazonja 1, mystery time rift none~." She said, pumping her fist in the air. Her droopy mood still had an effect on her positivism. But she still managed a grin as she held her fist up for a fist-bump. "We're a team now, whether you like it or not."

"I wasn't even going to say anything bad about it. Now come on, let's see where this will take us." He seemed to take her hand for a moment before quickly letting go and going inside the rift.

She frowned for a moment. ''"He left a fist bump hanging!!" ''Zazzy thought as she jumped in the portal soon after he did. But she quickly got over it as the kitty got sucked though the void of colors.

They landed in a field somewhere with hills and the sounds of gun fire and shouting. Asonja looked around, with a grim look on his face. "Oh crap...Not this place."

Fur standing on end, the cat sat wide eyed as she tried to take it all in. Zazzy flinched and covered her ears immediately in attempt to staunch the awful ruckus. "Wadda ya mean..  'Not this place?! '" She yelled over the gunshots.

"We're in the middle of Saratoga New York, 1777...one of the most important battles in the Revolutionary War..." He says, fixing his trench coat. "This is meant to be the turning point, but from what I can hear the British is in the lead, beating the Continental Army and the minutemen. They're just this way!" He points in the forward direction, takes her hand and runs to the location.

"There should be some weapons in the camp this way. We have to make sure the British surrender this battle or else America won't get their independence. That means we won't exist!"

Zazzy's tail fluffed up, every fiber standing on end. "That.. doesn't sound good at.. ALL." the cat said, as she thoughtfully smoothed out her tail. "So we need to sneak into their barricades to retrieve the weapons. I guess its kinda easy. What about all the bullets though? Oh wait. I think I can take care of those." She stated. A finger resting on her puckered lips.

"We're not sneaking in. This is to the Continental Army's campsite. The British is the opposite direction." Asonja responds as they stop at a campsite. There were some wounded soldiers inside missing limbs and things. He took a musket, a package of gunpowder and round metal bullets. He passed the same ones to Zazzy. "Here, take these. We'll be needing these to help out. We need to stall the British for some time before the French arrive. Got it?"

She nodded. Taking the gun in her palm and inspecting it up and down for a second. "Old model. But that what we get here in the past." Zazzy muttered. Loading the empty gun with great speed and skill. "OKIE. Lets kick some redcoat butt." She said, twirling the gun.

He was still trying to figure out how to load his gun. "I'm trying but I cannot seem to get the gunpowder and bullet in there..." He mutters, sticking his tongue out a little to try again.

The cat scooted over closely to examine his work. "Oh! Thats because the gunpowder for this model tends to go up in the 'breech' of the gun." She commented, tapping at the base of the gun's barrel. "Its a little tricky, but you'll get it." Zazzy said with a grin.

He nods and soon got his gun loaded. "Alright, they're coming just this way. Go for the higher ups, and not the regulars. Work your way down."

She squinted out into the field. "I'm assuming I'm looking for more decorated individuals then. Right?"

"Yes. Come, this way!" Asonja runs off to the battlefield, over the hill. There was a fort in front of them and a sea up ahead. There were no ships there, but the British are shown to be advancing in the battle, the Continental Army loosing the battle quickly.

"Stick with me, and look for the more decorated Brits." Asonja says to Zazzy as he goes into a part of the Fort and hides at the side.

"Okie!" She said simply. Instead of taking cover though, Zazzy just stood there in front of the fort like a target with legs. Quickly spotting what seemed to be a ranking officer... She guess by his bigger hat and different uniform. With a loud band of smoke, a bullet nailed him in the head and sent him flying to the ground. Zazzy whipped around and made a thumbs up at Asonja's general location. "I got someone."

"Good job, but stay covered. We don't want to be-" Just like that, he got shot in the arm which made him wince. "GREAT! JUST GREAT! I DEFINITELY WANTED THIS TO HAPPEN!" He grumbled and held his bleeding arm, which made him drop his weapon.

"Holy fresh heck. I'm coming!" She called. Throwing a glare off into the general direction to the shooter. Before bolting back into cover. "Asonja! are you alright?! Ommygosh so much blood definitely not jelly...Ugh!" She rambled. More reassuring herself than Asonja. As she tore off her short poncho and layed it on the grass to take a look at Asonja's arm. Without consent, she half yanked, half ripped his coat's sleeve up to check the wound.

It was a small yet deep hole of the spherical wound of where the bullet hit. It didn't go all the way through his arm, but it also missed his bone; a completely lucky miss. "Argh...already I'm becoming 'dead'weight..."

"Oooh, SHUSH you! Without you I probably wouldn't know my left from my right here. I dunno much about human history except for the really 'important stuff.' Like 9/11 and George Washington. Which by the way.. Does NOT look good with that stupid wig on." She blabbed through gritted teeth. Zazzy hated using her abilities because they were outta control but she had no choice. There weren't any clean tools around to assist. "Asonja, I need to get the bullet out of your system. I don't know if the outdated cocktail of gunpowders are gonna poison your system."

"Lead poisoning is a thing here, Zazzy." Asonja responds and winces a bit. "And plus, George Washington actually never wore a wig."

"Yuck. That makes him even worse." Zazzy gagged. "Ok. Better late than never, I guess. Did anyone ever tell you have have beautiful eyes?" She teased. Trying to hide the anxious tension behind a quip.

He blinked a few times, as well as blushing a bit. "I never knew someone would like grey eyes." He answered back.

While he was distracted, Zazzy briefly jabbed her pointer finger behind Asonja's neck. And quickly shocked him with several volts over electricity,rendering Asonja unconscious for a few moments. Quivering a bit, she drew a shaky breath before carefully rubbing her hands together. Causing the hair on her head to stand up. Steadying her hand, she slowly inched towards the wound on Asonja. Wiggling the bullet out of his arm though the electromagnetic field she was generating. With a small *clinck* the bullet popped out and landed on the grassy floor. Snagging her poncho she set down earlier, she staunched the bleeding on his arm. And exhaled a sigh.

A few more gunshots were heard, bringing Asonja back. "H-huh? What? How long have I been out?" He asked worriedly, before noticing his wrapped arm. "Oh...you...you got it out?"

She held up the bloodied bullet in her hands to show Asonja. "Yeah. Mission accomplished. Er. Sorta." Zazzy replied with a small smile. "I don't think I can stop an infection though, if one ever happens. We should probably get you some medical attention soon." The seriousness in her tone didn't suit her very well. Like putting on the wrong shoe size.

"I definitely agree...also, completely off-topic question but...were you serious about my eye color?" He looked like he was still hanging onto that topic. "I feel like you were kidding about you liking the eye color. I mean...who likes dark grey eyes, anyway? It's a boring color, honestly..."

"Well duh. Night time is my favorite time of the day. There's stars, planets, and galaxies. Oooh! And there's the moon too! You remind me of the moon." She jabbered. wiggling her fingers in mid-air. As if making magic.

He blushed a little bit. "That's...very nice of you to say. I am not sure how to compliment that..." He says, but then he blinks a few times. "Crap! We gotta hurry this up or Colonial America's doomed!"

"HOLY cheesecakes your right. But you can't really hoist a gun without agitating the wound! That's O.K though, I'll stay near you. HEY! Maybe you can sing a song. We can the the Musical duo that saved AMERICA." She chattered, as she carefully supported Asonja's body as she hoisted him up.

"Eheh...maybe." Asonja chuckled weakly. "Unfortunately, I don't have a singing skill...or better yet a leading voice...I can hold the gun..." He reached out to get his gun but he winced in pain and pulled back. "Gargh...I hate being weak already..."

She patted him on the back, and steadied his weight so he could lean on her for support. "Shaddap. What are you talking about? You're the brains of this mission." Zazzy said decisively. Like it was the end of discussion. "So. Let's try to make this quicker. Who can I shoot to seriously slow down the British forces..?"

"The General would definitely slow things down..." He answers. "They're the more highly decorated ones and on horses and shouting the commands to aim and fire. And you notice how they're not shooting at the head? We're going to invent a shooting strategy that is supposed to be invented in 1812: shooting them in the head."

"Weird, and dumb. Everyone knows when to duck and cover if your announcing when your gonna fire." She commented. A static field generated from her body and extended out in front of the duo like a intricate webbing. Little fingers of white energy cackled but didn't touch Zazzy on Asonja. "Random thing I figured out how to do a few months back. Really useful for gun fire. Wish I'd though of it earlier." Zazzy said guiltily, glancing at Asonja's wound.

"It's fine...it's interesting too." He comments as an "aim" command was given to the British Soldiers. Asonja grunted and went to his gun, wincing loudly at the wound but growled and continued to ready his musket. He actually looked determined to continue, which he never felt at all.

Afterwards, he aimed his musket, wincing a bit more at his wound which started to reopen and bleed more. He aimed at the British General's face, fixing his glasses and narrowing his eyes so that he could aim his shot. Then, he fires and the General falls off his horse, about to say the word "fire". At this point, the Continental Army charged at the defenseless British army. They fell back, but only to be stopped by the French ships that were headed into the port of Yorktown.

"There...we did it..." Asonja panted, before collapsing and holding his wound which REALLY started to bleed. "Argh...! I strained it too much..." He grumbled.

Zazzy's tail fluffed up in distress. "Asonja! Jeez boy, don't get yourself killed! Ohmygosh I dunno what to do to seal the wound.Ican'tjustelectrocuteyouthatwouldhurtyouandmakethingsworse!AAAAH!I Wishtherewas AhospitalaroundherebutthereISNTLOrdiehelpmeeeee." Her ramblings intensified as she tried to staunch the bleeding with her hand. And ended up setting him down again so he wasn't forced to stand.

He sat up with the help of Zazzy and he looked at her. "R-relax Zazzy! We made it through and another time rift should appear...I'll be fine, trust me." He reassured her, before wincing again. His black glove had turned into a reddish tint from all the blood. "Let's just get out of here..."

She nodded. "Right! We just need to.." She stuttered off, searching around for a rift of somesort near by. The concentration was kinda scary. "There!" Zazzy pointed to a sheltered tree off across the field. "We.. Just need to. Move. You. Errrrr." She said awkwardly, trying to figure out how to transfer the bleeding hedgehog through the field.

He brought himself up. "It's alright...I'll bring myself over. You can help me up if you wish but that's up to you." He says, already almost tripping on his own feet and from blood loss.

She nudged him up as generally possible. And blotted at his wound with the poncho that had fallen off earlier.

He seemed to smile a little bit as they walked. "If you haven't have taken that ball of iron out of my arm, I would've definitely died back there. I thought that I was dying too soon, heh..." He awkwardly chuckled before making a whimper-like groan. "I'm such a drag, aren't I?"

"Stop saying that. The only thing dragging here is your moral. You gotta keep your chin up and smile more..." She grinned. "You are special. Now! Start hassling before you turn into Asonja flavored jelly!"

"That wouldn't be pleasant, would it?" He smirked weakly for a moment. I hope we can head home...I can't take much of this anymore...I feel like I'm gonna pass out..."

Nervous sparks of energy bounced off Zazzy unconsciously. "We're almost there, I'm afraid if I move you any faster your gonna give out.."

"I'll be fine...we're almost there..." He says, reaching his hand out to the portal. Then, they got sucked in and appeared in a different field near a huge ocean area behind them. "Oh boy..." He mutters. "Battle of New Orleans, 1815. The War of 1812, which already ended inconspicuously on Christmas Eve of 1814...This one is a bit...graphic."

Zazzy gulped. She'd already seen a lot of blood. "Christmas. I like Christmas, just not the snow. Suuuuper cold." She said divertingly.

"Don't worry. Once the fire sets in, we'll be good to go. But first, we need to find General Andrew Jackson's men...Oh! They're over there, right on schedule! But...wait...that's not General Andrew Jackson...Who the hell is that?!" He picked up random binoculars to find out who it is, yet he doesn't recognize the face.

He grumbles and puts the binoculars back down. "Screw it. This one's hard to fix. We just need to find Andrew Jackson who must be in Tennessee at this point...but we're all the way in Louisiana, south of which. How're we going to get there?!"

Suddenly, minutes later, the ground started to shake for a moment with the sounds of loud explosions were heard nearby. They were quick, and had a pattern. Thump.....Thump.....Thump...

"Oh..." Asonja says. "This...I know what that sound is...That's giant's footsteps..." He shivers. "This is not good...not good at all...I'm going to scream if I have to see another giant without ME being the one giant..." He growls quietly to himself.

Zazzy tensed up. "...G-giant??! As is.. Fe Fei Fo fum!??" She chattered. Twitching at each thump.

"Possibly...let's hope it's a nice one...I don't even think they should exist at this time period..." He was a bit worried at that thought, but the Thumps got closer. The trees ahead of them started moving with the thumps, when a few trees recoiled backwards at what seems to be a giant lizard foot. Asonja gulped and clung to Zazzy. "That's not just a giant...that's a giant Dragon!"

"O.M.Goodness." She uttered. And uncharacteristically short sentence. Fur was sticking out everywhere. As she stared, wide eyed, at the oncoming blob of darkness and death.

And suddenly, out came the full size of the giant dragon on its two legs, about 65 feet tall. When the shadows were lifted, he looked down on them worriedly, as if he had something to hide. "Oh dear..." He says, flustered entirely like a plum. "I-I'm so very sorry...I tripped and I fell in the Rift with you guys on accident. I'm so very sorry..." He bowed a little bit.

Asonja was too busy hiding behind Zazzy, grumbling and shaking a little bit.

"Oh! Wow.We're lucky you didn't fall on us. Are you O.K??!" She yelled back. Despite Zazzy's bravery, her anxiety was showing via nervous sparks of energy that jumped off her fur tips from time to time.

The Giant dragon nervously put his fingers together. "U-uhm...y-yeah I am, thanks for asking...w-what about you two? I hope I didn't scare you two..." He whimpered a little bit. It was clear that even though for the dragon's massive size, he was showing a sign of a lot of cowardice.

Zazzy took two blinks and immediately jumped moods all together. "Daaww, no! Never, I mean sure, you were kinda scary at first but now your just kinda a big ball of scales. OmgYoursooocute..." She chattered, walking straight under the dragon and patting him on the foot.

He looked down at Zazzy, somewhat confused and not sure what to do. "U-uhm...t-thank you...? I...have never been called that before..." He responds. Asonja was shown just standing in the middle of the field, a clear sign of envy was in his eyes.

"Thats weeeeeird. Are you always a giant? Or can you shrink? How big was the egg you were living in??! Whats a food you like to eat? DO YOU HAVE A DAIRY ALLERGY??" Zazzy bombarded.

The dragon yelped and stepped back a bit, whimpering. "T-too many questions! I'm so-sorry but I can't answer that many! It's stressing me out..." He wined.

"Oh. Uh. Sorry." She choked out. Trying hard not to chatter again

Asonja walked up to Zazzy and looked up at the giant Dragon. "I really wish I was like you, in all honesty." He says. "I'm not mad at you or anything but I'm just...wishing to be like you. And also, Zazzy's a bit of a...spazz, but you'll get used to her, I promise. She's very sweet."

The dragon sat down so he can see the two better. "I-I suppose..." He responds. "W-where are we anyway?" He asks, looking to Zazzy and then to Asonja.

Asonja replies, "We're in New Orleans in the year 1815, a major slave trade area at the time in the south. It's about as popular as Charleston in the coast of South Carolina. Right now we're in Louisiana at that time period."

Before Asonja could start reassuring the dragon that everything is going to be okay, he starts to whimper and freak out. "B-but but we CAN'T be here forever! I was fine living in the world I was in earlier...but now I got you guys stuck here...it's all my fault..." The dragon whimpered again.

Asonja sighs, seeming to have no visible feelings for the poor guy. "It's not your fault, relax..." He says. "It's just a time rift, and we just need to fix what happens. I'm here to make sure that everything is the way it is supposed to be. Right now, General Andrew Jackson, soon to be the 7th President of the United States in the Election of 1826, should be here by now. Unfortunately we have a different General, so we can assume that Jackson is still in his plantation in Tennessee. We won't be able to get there in time, anyway so I guess we're screwed as it is..."

The dragon yelped a bit at the massive amounts of information. He seemed a bit overwhelmed already. "T-then what's MY purpose for...?" He whimpered.

"Hey! You could fly us there, couldn't you?! On those big wings!" She said. Cutting to the chase as much as possible.

"Oh...yeah...I could. But wouldn't that cause trouble to the timeline...?" The dragon asked, whimpering quietly and worriedly.

She shrugged a moment. "In my opinion, the timeline seems pretty messed up already. But we better double check here." Zazzy said, turning to Asonja. "Your the brains here. What should we do? I mean, I don't wanna cause the timeline to.. I dunno.. Explode. Yeah. That would be pretty bad."

"True..." Asonja answers, scratching his head. "Andrew Jackson must be still be in Tennessee and we're all the way in Louisiana. The best option we have is to fly to Tennessee." He looked at the giant dragon, who was sitting down in front of Zazzy and Asonja. He looked worried again. "Sorry bud, we're gonna fly there."

"Aww..." The dragon said, poking his fingers together. "Okay...I suppose I can make it work..."

Zazzy bounced on her toes a little. "Hey! I've always wanted to fly! I just can't sprout wings though. I'm pretty sure I don't get motion sick. But just in case, I'll bring a bag with me. We need to get there quick!"

The dragon nodded and carefully picked the two up and onto his back. "I-I'll try to be careful! I promise. H-hang on tightly but not too tightly okay?" And with that said, he spreads his wings and blasts off into the air northward.

"WHOOOOOHO HOO!" Zazzy shouted with glee. Gripping onto the long scales of the dragon to keep from falling off.

Asonja was holding on tightly, already pale. "Argh...this is gonna suck for me..." He dry-heaved. The dragon turned his head to his back, still showing his worried look. "P-please don't throw up on me, Mr. Hedgehog..." He whimpered and looked to Zazzy on the other side, showing a small smile. "I-I'm glad you're having fun..."

"Suuuuper COOL! Your flying crazy fast, bro. SQUEE!" Zazzy chirped. Positively delighted in the journey.

He seemed to smile a bit more but continued to fly at the same speed. He continued to look straight ahead. Asonja, on the other hand, is not looking good in the slightest: He's even more pale than before with a tad of green on his muzzle, and his knuckles were white from grabbing so hard.

"Oh come on, 'Sonja. Look! We're flying!" Zazzy insisted. Patting Asonja's whitened knuckles. "Your not gonna fall of, silly! We're in good hands. Er, claws."

The dragon chuckled at Zazzy's statement, as if he found it amusing to him. Asonja didn't show much signs of calming down. "I...I appreciate your help but..." Asonja hesitated to say. "You don't understand what I go through...It's a long story about why I'm like this...I'm not sure I could explain it...Sorry pal, if I'm gripping too tightly on your back." Asonja says to the dragon.

"N-no worries! I'm fine." The dragon reassures before seeming to slow down to a comfortable speed for everyone.

Zazzy's short hair was a knotted mess, but she didn't seem to mind at all. "Even At this speed we'll be there in no time flat."

"Yeah..." Asonja agreed. "But it'll take a while for me to...recover from this..." He seemed to grip tighter onto the dragon, but the dragon felt nothing. Asonja was just getting more distressed by the minute, and Zazzy could've sworn she saw tears forming.

Zazzy instantly switched moods. Her ears mildly folding, as she twisted around so she could get a better look at the hedgehog. "....Sonj. Are. You ok..?" She asked gently.

He looked away from her, so his tears were hidden somewhat. "Yeah...I-I'm fine..." He answers. The hesitant tone in his voice gave it away that he was lying. The dragon was unaware of what was happening. He was, actually, but decided not to take part of it and just listen quietly to what he happening.

"Thats. weird, I could have sworn 'being fine' meant smiles. Not tears." Zazzy said. "Sometimes you feel better when you tell others.."

"N-no...I'll just feel worse..." Asonja stated, starting to shake a bit. "You won't...understand...Nobody does..."

"Sure. But that won't stop me from sympathizing..Y'know that, right?"

He stayed silent for a moment but sighed. "You're right. I can't stop you from trying to sympathize, and I won't blame you for your utter determination to do so..." He somewhat looked at her, but not directly in her eyes. "Listen...I'm just...scared. I haven't been able to do anything brave or fundamental in a whole 7 years..." He chocked back a sob and continued.

"7 years after I was born, Robotnik came to my house and slaughtered my family in front of me. I never learned how to fight or stand up to myself then, so I just sat there and watched with tears in my eyes. My parents told me to run away, but I was too stiff to move...My brother ran away, but he didn't bother to come get me. I was soon captured and brought into his base. I don't remember what happened from that point...it's all vague..."

"Thats..awful." Zazzy said softly. Her usual bright eyes were dulled a bit by sadness. "I'm so sorry, Asonja. No one should have to go through that."

"It's fine..." He shook his head. The dragon seemed to look back at Asonja before landing softly on the ground, not quite at their destination. He set Zazzy and Asonja down carefully and shrank to their sizes. He was still keeping an eye on Asonja, examining him from all angles, even from top view and bottom view as he grew and shrank constantly until going to Zazzy's height.

"You remind me of someone...familiar." The dragon says. "Even the story you said was very familiar. Are you sure you can't remember anymore?" The dragon asks Asonja. Asonja answered by shaking his head.

"I don't recall seeing you at all." Asonja informed. "But my brother who ran away...I didn't know much of him as he kept hiding from me."

The dragon's eyes seemed to widen a bit, and stumbled back. "W-w-wait a second! 7 years...hiding...That means...you're..." His eyes slowly widened to that of an owl's eyes until he tackles Asonja lightly into a hug, squealing for joy. "That means you're my brother! Asonja, it's been so long! Way too long!" The dragon's tail was wagging like crazy, Asonja shocked beyond belief.

"I...I'm sorry but...what is your name again?" Asonja asks. The dragon let go, some small tears in his eyes.

"It's me...Zoralth!" He responded. "You don't remember the Hide and Seek games we used to pull on Mom and Dad? And that time when the school bully was bothering you and I scared him off with my powers just for you? That was my first time protecting you! Don't you remember those times?!"

Asonja thought for a moment, but shook his head a bit. "I'm sorry, I don't recall much of my past as I tend to forget about it. But it's great to see a long-lost brother of mine return. I thought I had no family, since you ran away. I never heard nor seen you ever again until now." Asonja seemed to have a bit of a smile, but it was held back as if his negative emotions still clouded his vision.

Zazzy was twitching excitedly. Biting at her thumb nail in attempt to contain the rising excitement. "Ooooooooh. Bros! Who'da thought?! Super cool coinkydink..." She managed to summarize.

"Yeah...I never thought I'd still have my family here with me..." Asonja says, but shakes his head quickly as he was going off a tangent. "But we need to hurry to Tennessee. Think you can grow again and fly us there?"

Zoralth nods, grows back to his regular 63 foot size, picks up Asonja and Zazzy carefully onto his back and blasts off again in the same direction. "Tennessee, here we come!" He adds.

"THIS IS GREAT!" She shouted in the wind. "CAN I BE THE FIRST TO SAY... PLOT TWIST~!"

Zoralth chuckled a little bit at that. "I'd say the same thing, miss!" He replied. He then turned closer to Zazzy and whispered a little bit to her, "I think you and Asonja look great together. Just sayin..."

For a moment she paused. Eyes wide like a startled child. Then she giggled a bit. "Oh. hehehe~" She smiled. Glancing back at the clueless Asonja. "You really think?" She whispered.

"I KNOW so. I think you two should be MORE than just friends." Zoralth smirked a bit. "I can definitely see you and Asonja kissing in a tree!" Zoralth chuckled a bit, like he was the child.

Zazzy was grinning from ear-to-ear. "..Well. Maybe so~" She said in a mildly sing-song voice.

(Zazzy dear you have NO idea. Not a clue... The life thats been planned for you. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°))

(Indeed... *Evilly laughing in the shadows*)

Zoralth giggled again, and continued flying. He occasionally gave Zazzy the signal for her to scoot over to Asonja. He was actually curious to see how Asonja would react to Zazzy being close to him.

Zazzy 'accidentally' slipped from her gripping on Zoralth and slid back some ways. And ended up being right next to Asonja.

Asonja jumped a bit and looked at Zazzy. "You okay?" He asked, actually having a slight blush of embarrassment. "Thank god you didn't fall off, that would've ended badly. I was probably going to be the cushion of your fall!" He laughed, a bit awkwardly too.

"Yee-ah. I'm good now! Zor-zor's scales kinda hurt. But thats totally fine because sometimes you win some and you loose some. RIGHT NOW WE'RE FLYING for crying out loud." She said. Almost making the perfect impression of an emoji face. :D

Asonja chuckled a little bit and nodded. "Of course, of course. Zoralth is interesting. I sometimes wish I was like him, even though we're twins...It's like he's the bigger brother both mentally and physically..." He seemed to pat Zoralth's scales for a moment as if going back to his own past for a bit.

Zazzy nudged Asonja's shoulder for a moment to snap him outta his weird daze. "So. We're gonna be stuck on this dragon for a while. Minus well make the most of it. What's a hobby you like to do?"

(OMG you will never believe this but my parents are playing HtTYD's 'Where no one goes' in out living room right now. Super ironic considering where our heros are at the moment xD)

He blinked a few times at the question, and looked around for a moment as if avoiding the question, but answered it regardless. "I don't really...do much of anything nowadays. Whenever I'm in the Nimagi Freedom Fighter base with Axel, I just sit around and sleep most of the time. Pitiful, I know..." He poked his two index fingers together, rather embarrassingly. He was surprisingly colorful with emotions this time, but it seemed like he was trying to hide more of his emotions.

"..Whaat. You're so smart though. You shouldn't keep that big brain sitting on the bench all the time." She encouraged.

"I know that but there's nothing much for me to do there anyway!" Asonja replied back. "It's hard to find something that I like doing..."

Zazzy's ears folded back apprehensively. "Ah.. I'm sorry. " She said quietly for a moment.

"Don't be sorry if you weren't involved." Asonja replies. "I shouldn't have been so...harsh with my statement. I've just been a little stressed lately and I'm REALLY trying to get some help for it...but I can never seem to get the stress and anxiety away, you know?"

"I can understand. Sometimes I get anxious too." She replied in less than 10 words.

"That's good...at least somebody, but my lost brother, understands." Asonja replies, still looking down at Zoralth's scales. He sometimes looked up at Zazzy for a moment while he spoke. "You know those people who are too arrogant to help you out emotionally and sometimes physically? I'm practically surrounded by them in the Base...it's a bit abstract if you think about it. They're trying to help, but they don't realize they're not helping."

Zazzy frowned, but her optimistic spirit soon returned. "Well, you need to communicate with them. They'll never know unless you say something. Not everyone can read minds. Also BLEH. I'm SOSOO Glad I can't hear what everyone's thinking. I'd be crazy!"

Asonja laughed a little bit and lightly smiled, which is incredibly rare to see, coming from him. "Perhaps that would be the case. We'll never know for sure if you are crazy or not. But you are energetic, I'll give you that."

"Thats probably why I was never allowed to drink coffee. Or anything with caffeine..." She pondered. A finger resting on her pursed lips, as if to shush herself.

"I've never drank coffee before...nor caffeine. I just sleep." Asonja replies.

"I don't really sleep much! Never really need to. I'm just to sparky to do that stuff. I have napped before, but usually when I'm sick. Bleh. Being sick sucks. One time, I got so sick that my vomit-..." She was about to continue.

Asonja covered Zazzy's mouth for a quick second. "Yeah yeah yeah, I'm gonna need you to NOT go into detail please? I apologize if that was rude but I REALLY don't want to vomit myself..." He was actually getting a bit green.

"Oh! Right." She managed to mumble through his hand. The rest was a bunch of random 'Hrmss.' and "Muhs.' All it ever actually did was tickle Asonja's hand.

He snickered and put his hand away from her mouth. "Alright, that tickles and I don't want to start laughing uncontrollably, thank you very much." He was still trying to keep a straight face but was smirking a bit.

"But Mamaw always said..'Laughter is the best medicine. Unless you're dying...' Mamaw was such a silly pickle." She said cheerfully.

"A silly pickle?" Asonja couldn't help but laugh at that. "That's the funniest thing I've heard all day."

Zazzy's face lit up. And almost purred with happiness. "Well, I'm glad it came from me. I like your laugh. You've gotta smile more."

"Yeah...it's hard to smile when others bring you down. It's almost entirely impossible." He only smiled a little bit, but not to the point where he was frowning. "Anyway, we should be getting close to Tennessee." He raised his voice so Zoralth could hear him. "Hey bud, how's it goin' over there?"

Zoralth looked behind him to the two. "We're almost there, but I noticed a wormhole in front of me in just a few meters. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing..."

"A wormhole? It must be another time rift and this one must've fixed itself somehow...Oh well. Let's give it a shot Zoralth, nice and smooth!"

"You got it, bro!" Zoralth nods and speeds up toward the wormhole.

"Whooooa! Are you sure?! Isn't this how we got here in the first place??" She called, uncertainty creeping in her voice.

"Perhaps." Asonja said, but sounded uncertain. "But I do not know where this wormhole will lead us. Let's hope that this is our way out of this distortion." He seemed to be nervously holding his hands together, seeming tense a little bit. "I don't want to damage anymore of this past and I'd hate to ruin it even more."

Zazzy bit her lip. "Well. All or nothing.. Lets do it!" She said decisively.

"Right..." Asonja said nervously, still holding his hands together like all he had for comfort and reassurance was himself.

Zazzy tapped nervous energy out on the back of Zoralth. Watching them edge closer to the portal.

Suddenly, when all three of them went through the portal, there was something odd: it was just a black background, and Zoralth was missing. Asonja and Zazzy fall to the invisible ground, still in the black void. Asonja yelped when he landed on the ground and he noticed Zoralth's disappearance with a shock.

"Zoralth?!" He called and looked around for him. "Zoralth where'd you go!? This isn't a good time to play hide and seek, you know! Don't leave us here! Don't leave ME here!" He ran around the void, his voice echoed slightly. This was the first time Zazzy has seen Asonja stress this much almost to the point of tears.

Zazzy her self was a bit shocked. But she took deep breaths, and accessed the situation. "Sonj', We can't find him if we panic. We have to calm down." She attempted to reassure, both him and herself.

"I know but without him I'm nothing! He's all the family I have left! What if he's dead or lost?!" He shook Zazzy a bit, but got a bit of static electricity for a moment before freaking out again.

The feline's fur was sticking up a bit, both from the static but also from fear. "He can't be gone! We'll find him! I- I know it!" She said shakily.

Asonja fell to his knees and curled into a ball, whimpering. "I hope so...I don't want to lose him again..." He sniffles.

"Oh boo hoo, you'll get over it!" A voice echoed back to Zazzy and Asonja, and Asonja got up quickly. The voice sounded like Asonja's but a bit more dry and crazier. "Trust me, I've lost a lot of family members, but I didn't cry...because I killed them all! HEHEHAHA!"

"Show yourself already! What did you do to Zoralth!?" Asonja called, looking around to find the source of the voice.

"Oh, I didn't do anything to him!...not yet anyway. But soon! Veeeerry Soon indeed! Hehe~!" The voice seemed to go right behind Zazzy, as a stray finger seemed to touch the bottom of Zazzy's chin. "And you my dear, will be PURRfect for my next experiment! HEHE~ I'm so clever~!" The finger vanished and the voice moved around before Zazzy could scratch the hell out of whoever touched her. Asonja was noticeably pissed at that thought, as well.

"GAAAaha!" She yelped. Jumping at an unseen foe. "What. the. CARP!?" She shuddered in disgust. "If I see that good for nothing fart cloud I'll tear his larynx out!" Zazzy growled uncharacteristically.

"Save the anger for later, dearie!" The voice echoed again. "Or else my experiment won't be as fun when you don't have anymore energy! Now...for my first experiment, I shall randomly pick one of you to do a certain task for me in history...if you know what it is, of course..." The voice chuckled and went around, not being able to be seen.

"Now...can any of you guess the worst events in Modern American history? I'll give you a hint...it was in April 14th of 1865..." The voice seemed to go toward Asonja, who was rather stiff from fear. "Do you know, buddy? I know you're the smart one around here...I know you can figure it out..." The fact that the voice called Zazzy dumb seemed to make her even more mad in the background.

"U-uhm..." Asonja hesitated. "T-The assassination of President Lincoln?"

"Yup! And you know who killed him? John Wilkes Booth, right? WRONG! It's going to be someone different...and it's going to be YOU!" The voice echoed louder as the black void slowly turned into what appears to be an Auditorium.

"You don't know what you're doing, bud!" Asonja shouted. "You're causing a major rip in the time-space continuum just for doing this, you know!"

"I am aware of that, and I want you BOTH to perish in the rip! HEHEHAHA! Good luck~!" The voice echoed one final time and vanished. Suddenly, Asonja started to choke and he fell to the ground, holding his throat.

"Asonja!" Zazzy cried as she bolted to his as fast as her legs could carry her.

He stopped, and then looked up at Zazzy with a wide smirk, and his eyes glowed purple. "He's under my control now, girly!" The voice came out of Asonja's mouth now, as he laughed and ran to the stairs to the President Lincoln's private box. "Have fun being useless~!"

"YOU'LL BE USELESS BY THE TIME I'M DONE WITH YOU YOU OLD FART!" She roared. Little fingers of electricity was building up into a aura around her. Zazzy quickly flashed after 'Asonja', silently praying she would make it on time.

The voice controlled Asonja, laughing maniacally. "Catch me if you can, pussycat! HEHAHAHA!" He grabbed a nearby gun and continued forth to the box.

Zazzy tried to fire at the gun, hoping to fry it's gears, or at the very least, slow the maniac down. But she barley missed him as he dashed up the final stairway to the stage box. Determined, she half sprinted, half barreled down the hall, and was on the heels of Asonja.

The voice stopped and aimed the gun behind Lincoln's head. "You're too late now Zazzy!" He says before readying the gun. There was actually a window of opportunity for Zazzy at this very moment.

She hesitated a moment. Knowing what need to be done but she was unwilling to hurt her friend...But If I don't, the whole timeline will be flipped.. And with that, the feline jumped, as if startled. "NO!!" She cried, a surge of energy leaped forward. Hurtling a massive amount of energy at poor Asonja's body. Which in a quick flash, nailed him in the chest. An audible crack of lightning was heard as it struck.

The entire theater just went quiet after that. Strangely how no one saw what exactly happened, but Asonja laid down on the ground. His eyes opened and the purple in his eyes vanished. He coughed a bit, smoke coming out from his mouth. "W-what...What happened? I was choking and now...you're..." He blushed massively, but he shook his head quickly to get the thought out of his head. "W-what exactly happened is the better question..."

She sighed a breath of relief. Then reality set in for her. "Aaaaah SHOOT. We gotta get outta here before someone sees us!" She hissed. Hoisting Asonja up on her shoulder. "Hnng. C'mon!"

Asonja was actually light...almost too light. "Okay, okay! Try going outside!" He pointed as much as he could behind him so that Zazzy could see the exit. But before they could leave, the gunshot was heard. And then someone shouts, "Sic semper tyrannis! THE SOUTH IS AVENGED!" The person fell from the box, breaks his leg, but manages to run off the side door as screams were heard.

"No time for distractions, let's go Zazzy!" Asonja shouted worriedly.

Zazzy's ears folded. She was trying really hard not to dump Asonja and go beat the crap out of Booth. But she knew all to well that everything had to remain as it was. Easily hefting Asonja, she re-traced her steps back to where they came from.

Once they reached outside, the void appeared around them again. The voice sounded, "Hoho, you're not as dumb as you look, kitty! I see you even have a love interest~!" The voice cackled.

"Pffft. Yeah. Something you clearly don't. Is this what you do for a hobby? Stalking people? Wowza." She said, in attempt to bravado. Something she learned from a certain purple pincushion.

"I haven't heard that one in a LOONG while, missy. I've heard all the insults in the book!" The voice retaliated, before showing a whole body. He looked a LOT like Asonja is was almost uncomfortable: He wore a pale white trench coat, tattered black jeans and black combat boots that have long been worn. His fur tone looked the same but slightly lighter like soot was all over his body. His hair was almost an absolute mess as well as his red eyes.

"Don't think you can insult me!" He points at her, visibly shaking a bit. It wasn't from fear but more of anger. "Just wait until you get through the last change in history...and then you'll be begging for mercy once you have to deal with me! Hehehe~!" He came up to her and smirked his wide toothy grin. Under his trench coat, she could notice a sticky black and purple substance that was going up his arm, but he didn't notice at all.

"Oooh~ this'll be so entertaining! Watching you scream in pain while you try to save the love of your life! But look at this fool!" He smacked the back of Asonja's head, which actually startled him a little bit. "He can't even walk on his two feet! He can't even fight back! Does he even know how to throw a punch?! HAHAHA~!" The look-alike punched Asonja in the back of the head before vanishing back a few meters from Zazzy.

Zazzy was tense now, but she checked Asonja first. "Sonj' are you ok..?" She asked, as she gingerly checked the bruise forming upon the back of his head.

"Yeah...I'm fine..." Asonja muttered quietly in pain. "You think you can do me a quick favor when I recover my movement?"

"O-of course." She replied. Glancing about, giving the dark void around them a nasty glare from time to time.

"...Kick his ass for me." He seemed to smirk weakly at her. "Kick his good-for-nothing ass and leave some space for me too!"

"Oh, blah blah blah, you wouldn't even hurt a fly, hedgehog!" The look-alike retaliated. "I guarantee you'll be crying in pain once you punch me in the face!"

"Hey there, tubby. If you ran like your mouth did you'd be in better shape. Asonja is a better person than you'll ever be. Stop trying to belittle him for the greater satisfaction of your envy, you potato sack." Zazzy growled. Gently setting Asonja's head down and rising to her full height. She spat neat the old coots shoe.

The other hedgehog was silent, looking down at the spit that almost landed on his shoe. He looked up at Zazzy, growling as well. "What...did you say?! Are you protecting the weakling?! Don't you dare start protecting that good-for-nothing jackass like him! He's nothing more than a brat!"

Asonja seemed to be clenching his hands into fists, wanting to punch the look-alike in the face so hard, but he realized his legs were still numb. He sighed quietly in defeat, but was happy that Zazzy was protecting him.

"You heard me. P-O-T-A-T-O S-A-C-K!" She spelled out. "If you wanna fight buddy, you've got one! NO amount of creepy void shadows can hide you from me!" Zazzy said, defiantly wagging a finger at the doppelganger. Standing in front of Asonja like a shield.

"You shouldn't mess with me..." The hedgehog put his hands together, seeming to gain a dark atmosphere of purple aura around him. "You won't see the light again and I guarantee you won't!"

Zazzy cupped her hands together, and a beam of lightning jumped between her hands like the insides of a plasma globe. A warm yellow-ish glow flared up in that void. Particularly around Zazzy. "..Even in the darkest of darkness. There's always a light.." She quoted to no one in particular. "I'm. Not. Scared. Of you." Zazzy said, looking the hedgehog right in the eye.

"You should BE!" The hedgehog ran toward Zazzy, darkness surrounding his arms. "I'll choke the light out of you AND your boyfriend!" He teased.

Right off the bat, Zazzy mildly shoved Asonja away from the battle zone. And proceeded to side kick a wave of electricity to the left of the crazy hedgehog.

He caught her leg with his right hand, gripping her ankle tightly. Her leg then began to feel numb as the darkness seemed to creep over her it very slowly. "Hehehe~! The Corruption will soon infect you into a slow painful death!"

Zazzy gritted her teeth as she awkwardly rolled onto her back and launched her foe into the air with as much force as physically possible. Her fur started to hum with energy, and she was beginning to glow like a nightlight.

The hedgehog landed near Asonja with a grunt and an echoing thud from her attack. The Corruption in her leg seem to vanish almost immediately. Asonja noticed that the hedgehog was beside him, so he got up and quickly moved backwards before realizing that he still hasn't recovered fully, so then he falls backward.

The look-alike to Asonja got up and growled at Zazzy. "You won't beat me THAT easily!" He puts his hands in the air and forms a shadow ball and throws it toward Zazzy.

The feline formed like a 'gun' with her hands, and launched concentrated lightning at the wad of shadows. "That is some wicked looking space gas. Did you eat a burrito patter or something??" She chirped.

The shadow ball dissipated upon coming in contact with the lightning. The debris vanished and the hedgehog came at her and right-hooked her in the face. "Don't start talking nonsense; it's a waste of your time and mine!"

"STRANGER DANGER." She yelled through a sore muzzle. Instinctively kicking the sucker between the legs.

He stood there for a moment before falling backward and grabbing where he was kicked. "ARGH! WHY IS IT ALWAYS THAT SPOT?! DAAARGH!" He rolled around, groaning. Asonja was trying not to laugh, but it hurt him regardless.

"Hehehe! Not so smug now!" She called. Forming an electrical sphere around the limp fool.

"Not for long, and I'll be back to my former self! Just you wait! Now what are you doing, I'm actually a bit confused now..." The hedgehog looked at the sphere that surrounded him.

"Shocky bubble. Bucko. I don't want your creepy decay anywhere near me." She said, trying not to chatter.

He poked the bubble and felt the shock so he pulled away. He growled at her. "I'll find my way out soon...and when I do, you will regret fighting me!"

"Bleh, the only thing I'm regretting is not bringing a can of Febreze! Man, I can smell you through that bubble!" She said, pinching her nose. "Sonj' How are you..?" Zazzy asked in a weird, nasally voice.

"I'm...working my way through..." He answers, coughing a bit. "My legs are starting to gain some blood now..."

"Boo hoo, cry me a river, ya big baby..." The hedgehog in the bubble crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.

Zazzy suddenly increased the voltage of the walls, and somewhat tazed the sarcastic hedgehog's butt. Before letting off again. And giving him one heck of a nasty glare.

He seemed to glare back after recovering from the shock, but he also grinned. "You are persistent...I like that. But the fact that you have a cowardly piss-worm with you, it disgusts me."

"Name calling, really? Your resorting to name calling? That's pretty childish.. And this is coming from ME." She said, acknowledging her immaturity.

"Your insults are just as inept as mine." He replies, before looking at Asonja for a moment. He then got an idea and his eyes shined purple while he stared at Asonja. This made Asonja choke and roll around again like what happened in Ford's Theater.

"You may have me trapped..." The hedgehog said, but then Asonja said in sync with the other, "But I can still control the outside!"

Zazzy shocked the little turd again. "No. Bad. Stop it." She said. While it sounded light-hearted, she silently feared for Asonja. She really didn't wanna have to zap him again.

Asonja fainted again, since apparently a simple shock can get the control away, even if it's from both of them. "AW COME ON!!" The hedgehog shouted. "I TRY TO DO SOMETHING AND YOU WORK AROUND IT! Argh...This Villain work is harder than I thought..." He grumbled.

"I thought you were supposed to be the smart one here." She teased, squatting down to get a better look at the hedgehog. "Now, 1: Why do you hate Asonja so much..? ..And 2: How do we get out of here."

"Answer to your second question; You can't." The hedgehog answered blatantly. "Only I have to take you out of here. But I'm not! For several reasons that are harder to explain AS WELL AS the answer to your first question. I cannot explain as it is both boring, and entirely dumb. Your kind wouldn't even understand anyway..."

Zazzy sat down on her bum and tucked her tail around her folded legs. Resting her head on one of her hands, she giggled. "I have aaaaaall the time in the world. And its not like you have a choice here."

"Yeah, I suppose that's true...Ugh, fine." The hedgehog states, as he groans and rolls his hand. "Basically, I had the knowledge of knowing that there was alternate universes of all kinds. The one universe, where I'm from, I lived exactly like this one had." He pointed behind him to the unconscious Asonja and continued, "However, my parents and brother were not killed by Robotnik, but from myself; I figured that I was just a mess, a mistake from my very existence! So as I got older, I started developing my knowledge of Quantum Physics and studied Time and Space at the age of 5. I built a machine that I called the 'Universe Jumper' and jumped to multiple universes and constantly killed the Asonjas in that universe. After this one behind me, there is one last known Asonja in the universe, and he is said to be the strongest in that said universe and I'll be going after him once I take down your Asonja. Long story short, I despise myself and the many universe versions of myself so I can end the name from existence! And this corruption that's growing on me as we speak is what's slowly killing me as well from doing these jumps through time and space, but I don't really care about that as much as I want to destroy the Asonja name."

Zazzy tapped her chin thoughtfully. "But.. Isn't there like.. and infinite amount of multi-verses? Every time you kill an Asonja another timeline would just pop up again. Kinda fruitless.. Isn't it?" She said, with a surprising amount of knowledge.

(WHOOOOA. This dude sounds like DC's Zoom. How cool :O)

(I don't even watch DC or Marvel stuff, I just thought that straight out of my head XD)

"Yes, that is true; I would be at it for a while," The corrupted Asonja claims. "But I'm only going for the Asonjas that are mistakes, much like the one behind me, as he so claims. It's my duty to get rid of him as that is what he wishes."

"..But. Killing other you's isn't going to solve your problem. Despite what most people believe, everyone was born with a purpose. Mistakes are gonna happen. You can't let them get to you, it only throws mud on your windshield." Zazzy said, mimicking the sweeping motions of a windshield wiper for a moment. Before cocking her head to the side in thought. "You know. You try really hard to be someone your not. When I first met you.. You were a total butt... And you still kinda are sometimes. But, deep down, your still an Asonja." She said warmly. "What's the mistake in that..?"

His eyebrows twitched as he groaned. "I am the mistake, cat!" He grumbled. "He is as well, and he knows damn well that he's a mistake into his universe and I'm a mistake in mine! We're doing ourselves a favor, and WE don't need any interference from the likes of you!"

The real Asonja in the background groaned in minuscule pain as he was trying to get back onto his feet. The other continued, "That's why I aim to stop you and his dragon friend; so that you won't interfere with my job of getting rid of your Asonja."

"WHAT could you have possibly done to the universe to think your a mistake?!" She called him out on his problems. "Maybe you blinked.. *gasp* Or you... BREATHED??!" Zazzy continued, being quite over the top. She pointed at the anti's chest. "...That thing there in your chest. Its called a heart. Your a live, breathing, thinking.. person! Now don't you DARE tell me that you, yourself, and everyone else is a mistake!"

His eyes seemed to have widened for a moment, and was silent. He grimaced and crossed his arms. "Well, you can't blame what people say...they call you the mistake and, what can you do? You can't change their thought on who you are, so just let them say all they want. We both know the words are true, so why bother change their belief?"

"Prove them wrong! All you're doing is confirming those people's hard opinions. You don't have to become what they believe you to be.. " She huffed.

"It's what they want. They think they're superior to everyone else." He replied sternly. "If they want us to die, then so be it; they could care less."

The real Asonja was starting to slowly stand up, groaning in obvious pain.

Zazzy snorted. She was letting kinda impatient, so she left the evil Asonja to his own devices, and when to go tend to Asonja. "Sonj' You okie...?"

"Yeah...I'm fine." He coughed a bit. "I'm a bit burnt and wheezy but...I think I'll be fine for the next 5 minutes, give or take."

Zazzy patted him on the back.. almost like a baby, to help him with the coughs.

He seemed to groan a bit more, but was slightly better. "Sorry for not being much use to you. I didn't want you to get hurt..."

"Pffft. I'm fine, Sonj. Your the one who got fried.. " She said. continuing the use of her new nickname.

"I suppose..." He coughed more smoke from his lungs before getting back up on his feet sloppily. "Get him out of the bubble...I'm gonna have a word with him." He cupped his right fist with his left, staring intently at the other Asonja who gulped in sudden concern.

"Whaa?! Are you sure Asonja?" She asked with uncertainty. "Are you up to this?"

He nodded, some purple aura flowing around him. Artificial wind was going around him, making his trench coat flow. "Yes. I am sure. It'll be for a moment..." His eyes shimmered red for a moment.

With even more uncertainty, the electrical bubble dissolved. And Zazzy braced for impact.

Asonja just walked toward the other one, who seemed worried. He said as he was backing up, "Hey now, l-let's not be hasty! W-we can relate, right? You're like me and I'm like you!"

Before he could finish, Asonja right-hooked the other across the face, springing him back against the wall 50 feet back. in just under 1 second.

"You...are a disgrace to others like me!" Asonja shouted at the other. "You think it's best to run away from your fears?! You think it's okay to give others, innocents, pain that you received from idiots?!" He points at the other hedgehog, keeping his posture firm and voice stern. "Even though I used to do these terrible acts, I have learned from my mistakes! Who cares what other people think about you?! You control your own life, and not anyone else can say otherwise! FIGHT. BACK. Fight back the words that you've been thrown at, Fight back the pain and the urge to pass it on to others! I will have NO tolerance toward anyone who pains me, OR Zazzy alike! Do you hear me?! Do NOT make the same mistakes we BOTH made! Stand up for yourself, and quit giving up!"

Zazzy was trying hard to force her fur to lie still. She was kinda startled by the sudden anger that came from Asonja.

The other Asonja was getting up, but had his head down. The aura faded from Asonja and he let his arm fall. The other Asonja was shaking, but not from rage; from sadness and realization. Asonja walked over to him and seemed to hug him from the side.

"I'm sorry for shouting and hurting you, but you really need to realize what you're doing!" Asonja says normally, as he escorted the other Asonja to Zazzy. "You're causing major damage to the Time-Space Continuum because of what people have been saying negatively about you! You let them do this to you..." Asonja sat down, and the other Asonja sat down as well. The corruption on his arm was clearly visible at this point.

"Y-you're right..." The other Asonja sniffled. "What was I doing...I killed innocent versions of us for stress relief...I'm terribly sorry I brought you two into this mess...I can't forgive myself for what I've done..." He scrunched up to his knees and sobbed quietly. Asonja was trying very hard himself not to cry as he would've done the same thing if he was the other.

The feline was having a hard time grasping the situation, and was still on alert for if... EITHER of them, jumped her. "Uuh.."

Asonja looked to Zazzy, giving her a reassuring look and smile. Don't worry, it seemed to say. He'll be alright, and I'll make sure he won't hurt you or me.

Zazzy seemed to chill out a bit more, and her more bubbly side slowly returning. "GROUUUUP HUG!" She said, tackling the two and squeezing them both. Kinda making everything awkward.

Asonja chuckled a bit at Zazzy's sudden happiness. The other Asonja was slightly confused, but was starting to hug back.

"Okie. Sooo. Now what do we do here?" She said, poking her head into more of a 'football huddle' formation. so she could see both of their faces.

The other Asonja pulled away, seeming to look down most of the time. "Well, I have to get you two out of here somehow. The energy we need will take a long time. And the portal that opens may or may not take us into the wrong dimension. Also, I noticed your dragon friend vanished too, and I'm guessing we need to find him."

Asonja pulled away too, freaking out. "GAAAH! I FORGOT ALL ABOUT HIM!" This triggers Asonja to roll around the void ground, moaning in distress. The other Asonja just watched in surprised concern.

"Wait so you actually didn't kidnap him?" She asked, mildly surprised.

"No, I wouldn't hurt a family member even if I had lost my sanity." The other Asonja responded, still watching over the sobbing Asonja. "Though we are in the space between multiverses and timelines, he shouldn't be hard to find."

Zazzy perked up. "LETS FIND HIM!" She bellowed with determination. And lightly kicking the crying Asonja in the back. "Sonj', Tears won't bring him back, we gotta look for him!"

Asonja was still crying waterfalls, both from pain and from losing his brother. "Yes Zazzy~..." He sobs.

The other Asonja goes to his wristwatch and presses on it. A portal suddenly opens nearby. "Come on! Let's get going!"

The kitty half dragged, half hoisted the weepy Asonja up to his feet, and started shoving him towards the portal. "C'mon!"

Asonja trips and falls into the portal, along with smashing into the other Asonja into the portal.

"Whoooooa!" Zazzy's balance was thrown and she tipped into the portal herself in a very clumsy fashion.

Upon going out the other end of the portal, they arrived in a 1850's-like city. Asonja and the other were visible as they were going the opposite way of a massive crowd.

The feline quickly hopped to her feet, and went after the two. It would be hard to miss them in a crowd, they stick out like a bruised thumb. "Hey! So, uh. Where are we??" She called.

The other Asonja had to stop the real Asonja from going anywhere as Zazzy was in view. The other Asonja replies, "We're in the beginning of what appears to be the Second Industrial Revolution, the time where people from Eastern and Southern Europe including parts of Asia come for work. However the conditions here are very...strict and poor. So poor, infact, that people die while working because of how dirty everything is. And you know what else? Kids are put into dangerous job conditions like going into coal mines and blowing up part of the cave only to run out and see the adults pissing themselves because they're too scared to die, SO THEY LET A CHILD DO ALL THE WORK AND-"

Asonja slaps the other Asonja across the face, calming him down. "Dude!" Asonja says to the other. "Calm yourself down, you'll scare her! I know it's horrible but this is the past and not the present! Time has changed!"

Zazzy glanced around at the conditions. And sure enough what they said was indeed true. "Hm, so. What do we have to do here?"

The other Asonja responded to the question, once the actual Asonja let go of him. "Well, for starters, we have to look around and find Zoralth. That son-of-a-gun shouldn't be that hard to find as-"

Before he could finish his sentence, the crowd started to run away all together away from a group of buildings, which then, coincidentally, Zoralth showed up as he massive claw gripped the building next to him. He was looking around, looking stressed and annoyed. "Guys?! Where'd you go!?" He shouted, but looked down occasionally as he moved about, until suddenly stopping RIGHT above the group of three. They were just inches of being squished.

"AH! Oh my goodness I thought I squished you guys...I'm so sorry..." Zoralth says as he moved his foot away from the three. "Where have you guys been?! I was worried sick!"

"ZOR! HAI! WE FOUND YOU!" Zazzy belted at the top of her lungs, hugging a toe of the dragon.

Zoralth was a bit surprised upon her doing this but he shrank back to normal to them. "I'm glad I found you guys too. But why is he here?" Zoralth pointed to the other Asonja. The real one was going to explain, but he wasn't sure how to put it into words.

"We had a crazy fight because the old one got grumpy and stuff so he locked us away in a creepy black space fart and we had an epic battle but then hugged it all out and managed to leave the stank. SO NOW WE'RE HERE!" Zazzy chirped, loud enough to scare off several birds.

Zoralth blinked a few times but smiled "I'm glad you two are together. You make a really great teammate to my brother. I can already feel that he has something towards you." He chuckled while Asonja blushed in the background. The other one stepped in. "Apologies for sending you off, Mr. Zoralth. I'll sending you guys back to your timeline."

"Wait, really?" Zazzy asked, mildly surprised. And still clutching Zoralth's toe.

Zoralth nodded. "Yeah! You guys are a great team. Anyway, I'm ready to head back, other Asonja."

"Great to hear." He says, as he opens a portal for the three. "There you guys go. Now go on, head back to your timelines. I'll go back to mine"

"..." Zazzy was oddly frowning more than she was rejoicing. "I'm.. gonna miss you guys though." She said, ears drooping. "If I go through the gate I may never see you again."

"True..." Asonja looked down for a moment before Zoralth butted in. "Oh! How about you guys trade numbers and addresses? That usually works!"

"Oh!" Asonja looked surprised. "Yeah, let's do that!"

Zazzy whipped out a piece of paper. Then she jotted down her number and impossible address that simply said.. "''In that house on the hill." ''After completing her work she handed Asonja the pad and paper.

He looked at the address and looked up at Zazzy. "Wait...you mean that one house on that one hill that's close to my apartment?"

"I THINK I KNOW WHERE YOU SPEAK OF. I dunno, I think so!!! I Hope so!" The feline chirped, hopeful indeed.

Zoralth smiled at this while Asonja wrote down his number and address. Asonja handed her the paper and said, "You know where that is? It's that big grey building near 27th street just on the outskirts of Station Square."

The feline wrote the directions down on her arm with another ink pen. Rather odd. "Ok. I will totally find you. Shouldn't be too hard!" She smiled. A ting of a purr on her words.

He noticed that, which made him blush slightly. She also saw his first smile, which was very light. "It should't be that hard. If you get lost, let me know and I'll come and find you." He says.

Zazzy gave him two thumbs up. "GREAT. Because That might happen to me.. several times. A day." She replied. "NOW I HAVE A MISSION!"

Zoralth chuckled a bit. The other Asonja seemed to smile a bit himself, despite his deep corruption. He breaks the silence between them for a moment by saying, "Come on, let's get going. I can't hold this portal much longer."

Zoralth nods, hugs Asonja to say goodbye, and flies through the portal.

The cat frowned. Because she knew what came next, but that doubt was quickly killed with her high sense of optimism. "I'll see you later!" Zazzy said, her face bright with happiness. Without asking, she scooted up close to Asonja and kissed him on the cheek.

With that, both Asonjas blushed, the actual one blushing the most. He seemed to be a bit light headed after that, but regained his balance. "T-...Thank you Zazzy. I'll be seeing you later." He hugged her, resting his head on her shoulder.

She purred softly, before stopping short as if to realize something. "OH CHEESE and CRACKERS. I had a Lasagna in the oven!! I NEED TO GO." She said with great hurry. Her pasta was in peril! With that she bolted for the portal, and waved one final goodbye before getting sucked back in.

Asonja laughed a bit and stopped in front of the portal to look at the other Asonja. "So I'm guessing that if I get more depressed than I already am, this happens?" He points to the other Asonja's purple/black arm.

"Precisely that." He answered. "I would follow Virus' instructions before thinking twice when you see her this week. Now that you have someone to impress, that might give you some motivation to do what she says. You don't want to make either of them upset, would you?"

"No sir." Asonja shook his head. "Thank you for not hurting me or anyone else here."

"And I'm sorry that I distorted time. Thank you for saving it." The other responded. Afterwards, the real Asonja jumped back into the portal, and woke up in his bed in his apartment.

(Chapter 2) -Off to a new land!
Turns out, Zazzy's oven had never been turned on to begin with. So her house thankfully did not smell like burned toast. She ended up eating a bowl of cereal for her dinner, and then Immediately set off to tidy her house up from all the random debris.

Asonja got up from his bed and looked out side. "Was...I dreaming?" He muttered. "I hope that wasn't a dream...it all felt too real regardless..." He got up from his bed and went to his empty fridge, only to see a half-drank Vodka bottle.

"Perhaps I should lay off the alcohol for a while...that was too weird." He grumbled and closed the fridge. "Guess I'll be getting more Ramen for dinner." He grabs his phone and wallet, and went outside of his apartment. He didn't know that Zazzy's phone and address were also in his pocket.

He stopped by at the market outside of town, since he couldn't afford much food. He bought a small ration of food which was about a half a pound of meats, vegetables, and bread. He put them into a sack and made the venture home after thanking the market-man.

"This dang poor life...I hate it so dearly I wish I lived in that dream...I won't have to worry about this nonsense..." Asonja muttered.

A familiar blonde cat was crossing a street adjacent to Asonja. Normally this person would simply be overlooked as a passerby citizen, but. This was not a normal individual. The feline's whole outfit was coated in a weird mixture of red and green glitter. A chain of Christmas lights was wrapped around the cat's tail, and despite every impossibility, it was lit up in a colorful display of violent flashing. Despite there being no battery or power outlet on the cat's body. The strange woman seemed to be heading the direct opposite of Asonja's apartment for some reason.

"H-huh...?" He winced a bit at the lights. "M-man, someone seems excited about the holidays..." He clutched the bag behind him. "Oi, miss? Would you mind turning those off so no one gets blinded by them, please?"

"BUT IT CHRISTMAS-" The cat's ears twitched as she turned to find the source of the voice. She turned in surprise to find Asonja out in the streets. "-Sonj? OH HAI!" The kitty smiled, waving from the distance.

Asonja stopped, and turned toward the cat. "Wait, how do-..." He gasped and dropped his bag behind him. "It's...it's you! Zazzy!"

"Um. Yes. I think it me." She said, patting herself for a moment to make sure. Before crossing the street to get to Asonja. "Why, did you forget me already?" Zazzy teased.

"N-no I didn't..." Asonja blushed before picking up his bag again. "I just thought I was dreaming because I woke up in my bed. I thought it was too good to be true..." He shrugged. "Where're you headed?"

Zazzy tapped her chin for a moment. "I could have sworn I was heading to.. YOUR house." She said thoughtfully.

"Oh...well you would be going where I'm headed to now; you were going to opposite way." He patted her head. "Silly."

"Oh really??" She asked, checking her arm to only discover she wrote..."Sprinkles." Zazzy giggled a bit. "I was wondering why you'd live on a cupcake..."

This made him laugh a bit, and facepalm with a smile. "Oh boy, Zazzy. You never cease to make me laugh. Now, come on, to my 'Cupcake' house we go." He picked up his bag again and held out his hand to her to escort her.

Without hesitating, Zazzy grasped his hand with a smile. "Okie, lead the way, Sprinkles."

He chuckled again and brought her to his apartment floor. Once they got in, it wasn't as spacious as Zazzy once imagined. "Yeah, it's all I got here..." Asonja says, rubbing the back of his head.

"Huh. Cool! Do you just live here by yourself?" The feline asked as she glanced around the room.

"Basically, yeah." He nods. "I don't really do much here except eat, sleep, repeat. I have to pay for one meal a day for like $2 at the local farmers market. I'm running so low on cash and food, I might cut my meal plan to one meal every other day and not one meal a day."

Zazzy seemed puzzled by this. "Wha? But your supposta eat 3 meals a day silly." She said, with a confused look. "Do you work?"

"Not really no. I applied, but I got nothing back from them. I got declined several times in interviews. I can only afford 1 meal a day, and that's it. As well as my monthly rent. I keep getting envelopes with the cash in them, perfectly circulated too. I dunno who's giving me the money so I cannot thank them personally."

The cat's annoying tail lights suddenly flickered off. A frown somehow plastered itself on Zazzy's face, and she seemed in distress. "...Thats awful." She whispered for a moment.

"It's alright...I'm just wondering how I'm still alive and kicking." Asonja says, looking at her tail. "What happened to the lights?"

Her tail twitched for a moment, Before lighting up again. Zazzy seemed to get a new sense of purpose. "We'RE GONNA FIX THIS!" She said determinedly.

Asonja jumped back at Zazzy's sudden determination, and stretched out the collar of his shirt. "And...uh...how're we going to do that?" He asked. "

"Welp, first. we need to clean this place up." The kitty replied, post haste. Already picking up wads of trash that littered the floor.

"W-well I...don't make messes that much..." Asonja claimed. This was deemed false when Zazzy looked behind his couch, which was filled with Vodka bottles and Scotch bottles of all kinds. He blushed a bit at this, embarrassed.

"Oh hey! Whats this?? Is it like a juice?" Zazzy asked, pulling out one of the weird bottles and taking a whiff of the bottle. "Bleh."

"It's...alcohol." Asonja anwsered. "The drinking age is 18 here, but I'm not even 17 yet..."

"Uhhh. But everyone can drink. We need water to live!" The cat continued, a touch confused.

"That is true, but this isn't water." Asonja says. "This is a dangerous beverage that will damage your liver if you drink too much, and ruin your brain. Though, it helps with depression, but will still damage your insides and most likely kill you if you drink too much." He sighed. "So, I've been drinking all of these to relieve my depression. However it makes it worse after a while."

Zazzy took one more looks that the bottle, then one more look at Asonja. Then she slowly walked over the his window, opened it. And chucked the glass outside. "Nope. We arn't doing anymore of that now. Your hurting yourself for a smelly beverage."

"Eh..." Asonja sighed. "It's like I have anymore." He says as he was beginning to drink from another bottle.

The feline took it upon herself to 'help' Asonja out. So she marched over and smacked the bottle out of his hand. She then shoved a apple juice box in his hand. "There!"

"...Why apple juice out of all other juices?" Asonja asked curiously. Guess he wasn't a fan of apple juice that much.

"Because 1, Its very good for you. And 2, Its the only juice I have in my poncho." The cat replied madder-of-factly.

"...Fair enough." He responds and drinks a bit from it willingly; he didn't want to make Zazzy upset for helping him, so he decides to be a good sport about things. "What's next on your list of renovation?" He asks.

"I'm cleaning your kitchen!" She said with verve. Continuing into the room to cleanse it of its..grossness.

"Oh uh...okay." Asonja says as he watched. The kitchen was filled with more empty bottles, empty ramen packets and dirty bowls. "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention; the dishwasher might be broken or something because it apparently doesn't have enough energy put into it. So I have to manually clean the dishes via tap water so I can prepare Ramen from them."

"Uuuh. This is a lot of ramen." Zazzy said, holding up a handful of empty packets.

"I eat one a day, so." Asonja shrugs.

Zazzy continued to shove boxes and trash into his trashcan. "So, how long have you been like this? Y'know, living here alone n' such."

"For 7 to 8 years."

She stopped for a moment. "Wha? So you were like 10. When you went off alone? What about your parents?"

"My parents died by a fat evil man with robots. I left when I was about to turn 11. I lived in the streets for quite some time, but when I was 14 I was able to volunteer for low-pay. I was able to get this place, but I'm running low on cash; I cannot pay my rent for next month so I might be kicked out soon."

Zazzy took things very seriously. And nabbed her wallet from under her poncho. "We can't let THAT happen. Well, I could help pay for your apartment. But it probably just be easier for both of us if you just moved in to my house." The cat said without batting an eye.

Asonja seemed a bit surprised. "Would you let someone as lazy as me live in your perfectly good household?"

"Well, you would still have to get outta bed before noon.. Aaaand you can't take showers late in the night. Plus you have to eat my food. BUT OTHER THAN THAT. Of course! I can get really bored around the house, plus I'm by myself half of the time. Being around people would be better for both of us."

"Hmm...alright, you're on." Asonja nods. "I'll be staying home with you as your house-mate...I guess."

Zazzy started to get really excited, and jittery. "This will BE AWESOME. SQUUUEEE-" She squealed. tossing the trash in her hands like confetti.

Asonja jumped a bit and picked up the trash again. "I love your happiness, but we still gotta clean up so I can sell this place."

"Ahem. RIGHT!" She said, and started to tidy up the apartment's kitchen again.

Soon, the apartment was completely cleaned. He sold the apartment and they walked out of the building. "So, where's your house?"

The cat clicked her shoes together, like she was Dorothy trying to get back home. "I've already told you silly, up on a hill." Zazzy said, vaguely pointing off towards the south.

"Oh yeah...right. I forgot about that." Asonja says before looking at the house and then back to Zazzy. "Can we, like, take a bus ride there and not walk?"

"Sure!" She chirped, Leading Asonja over to the bus stop near-by.

"Sweet." Asonja sits down next to Zazzy, waiting for the bus.

Zazzy's legs were kicking back and forth like a child. But she didn't seem to care. "Y'wanna know something?" She asked with a pause. "..When I first met you, you kinda reminded me of my grumpy cousin. He's always uptight about things. And strict. AND serious." The cat said, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "But just like him, you're much nicer than you let on. You just gotta get past all the black yucky to see the pretty lights inside." She finished. Her face taking on a cat's grin. "And that's something I love about you."

He was looking down, hiding a slight blush. He had a smile too. "I'm...not sure what to say about that. I'm grateful for the comment. You're pretty confident with helping people out of their depression phase and stick around with them, no matter what they say against it. I couldn't help but feel sympathetic as I finally had someone who wouldn't give up after I gave excuse after excuse." This time, he looked at her partly, but not directly. "You're by-far the first person that hasn't beaten on me for my self-doubt and self-loathing."

"Lots of people don't know this. And it might be hard to believe, but once upon a time, I fought depression too." Zazzy said, hugging herself for warmth. Sighing a cloud of frozen breath. "I just. Didn't know what to do with my life. I hated myself because I couldn't be someone else.." She trailed off for a moment. "That...that doubt almost killed me." She whispered. Zazzy's usual cheerful face seemed set in stone. As she locked eyes with Asonja. "But. during that time. I learned a valuable lesson. I can't be someone else.." 

"..There was only one person I ever knew how to be. And that. Was me." She smiled. "Somehow, everything else sort worked its was out. And I could actually feel again. So, now when I smile, its not just a show. I do it for myself, but for others too. Because despite it all, I won against that demon they call depression."

Asonja nodded at her remark, seeming to make a small smile himself. "Yeah...it's a valuable lesson. I'm having the same issue as you are, but, even though I know that I can't be someone else, like someone who has a lot of power, or naturally born with powers, I became so jealous with it that..." He trailed off for a minute himself before looking down at the ground at his feet, "...that I started to doubt myself and my existence in this world."

The bus started to pull into the stop as Zazzy jumped to her feet. "I know you'll make it through this. I believe in you." She said, holding her hand out to help him off the bench.

He nods, cracking a small smile as he took her hand. "Thank you. For believing in me and sticking with me." He says before they walked on. He made Zazzy go first as they climbed on the bus. There were two empty seats, and Asonja sat closer to the window.

"This shouldn't take too long ~" She said with a chipper grin.

Asonja smiled a bit and looked at her again while he supported his head with his hand. "I hope it won't or I'll melt." He joked.

"Then I would have to make Asonja popsicles. And that would be weird." She responded, watching the various buildings and streets pass by in blurs.

"I don't think I would taste that good." He replies, keeping the joke running. "I'd probably taste like black licorice."

"All that ever tastes like is coke. And I like coke." She teased. "Maybe you would be tasty."

"I could definitely go for some Coca-Cola right now." Asonja says. "Perhaps you should eat my hand then."

Zazzy suddenly stood up right in her bus chair and practically shoved her way to the window. "HEY WAIT WE'RE PASSING MY HOUSE." She said pointedly, as the bus continued down its route, it passed by what seemed to be the forests off in the distant.

"Shoot..." Asonja got up and went to the bus driver. "Excuse me, bus driver? Could you turn around and go back to the house that was on the hill?"

"Sorry, buddy. I'm already behind schedule! We're stopping over at Seldo Street. I can drop you off there." The driver responded without so much as a glance towards Asonja. "But thats like 4 blocks from here! WE'RE GOING MY WAY!" Zazzy yelled as she bolted down the bus's walk way. Snagging Asonja, she busted through the door and went rolling onto the asphalt.

Asonja yelped and braced for impact on Zazzy. Once they stopped, Asonja immediately got back up and helped her up. "Are you nuts?! We could've died!"

"But we didn't!" She said with a smile, standing upright and dusting her bum off.

"True..." He sighed, as if he was expecting to die. "How're we going to get over to your house?" He tried pointing with his right arm, but he noticed it was missing. He screamed, but it was actually slowly generating. Instead of blood that was pouring out, sand-like particles were refilling and reforming his arm.

"What.....the.....HELL?!"

"WHAAAAAAAAAGH!" Zazzy screeched, pointing at his arm repeatedly. "YO...YOUR ARMMMM!"

After a few more minutes of freaking out, Asonja's arm had reformed. He had gone even paler than usual. "What...happened?! Arms are not supposed to do that, last time I checked..."

The cat tentatively touched Asonja's arm to make sure everything was as it should be. "Uuuh, maybe your just a lizard? Can't they regenerate arms? Or was it the tails.. hm I always get those mixed up."

"No, I'm a Hedgehog...but from what I know, Identities do this. But there's no way I'm an Identity."

"Why does that word sound so familiar to me.." Zazzy tapped her chin thoughtfully.

"Virus, probably." Asonja said. "She's an Identity."

"I saw her once at that party! She seemed nice!"

"She...can be." Asonja said, rather doubtful, but shook his head. "Anyway, he got to get to your house, as it is our current objective right?"

"YEPPERS! Its over the hill some ways. C'mon~" She said, leading him out of the city to the more dense forests surrounding the area.

Asonja was already out of breath to try to catch up with Zazzy. Instead, he finds some tiny bits of sand and attempts to build a special hoverboard with the sand, but it took a long time.

"If what I'm thinking of is true...then I should be able to do what all Identities can do." Asonja says.

"Practice makes perfect!" She cheered. "Tsk, you need to work out more." She sighed as the feline straight up pulled him off the ground and carried him up the hill.

The sand fell back to the ground making a pile of that sand. "Come on! I was almost there..." He grumbled as he was dragged. He was fairly light anyway, as he also doesn't eat as much as exercise.

"You're about has heady as a bag of flour, boy. Me thinks you need a little more meat on those bones." Zazzy commented, as she cheerfully set Asonja down and nodded towards her cottage. "Well. We're here!"

He stood up, and dusted off his clothing from the dust and dirt. "Sweet. It looks a lot more cozy than my own apartment."

"Thankfully I never really have enough time to dirty up the place since I'm usually out of town." Zazzy said as she unlocked the door and welcomed Asonja inside. "I have a guest room up in the loft that you can stay in. If you want." She continued, dusting off her boots on her door mat before setting foot on her carpet.

Sunny yellow and orange seemed to be the color scheme for the whole house..The room they were in appeared to be the living room. Strange knick-knacks sat upon various shelves, which would need closer inspection to really find out what they were. A fluffy couch loaded with pillows divided the room into two different segments. On one side, a fireplace hung in front of the couch, embers still cackled from a long gone fire. On the other side, was a few bookshelves and more random items. Oddly enough it was all organised. Something One wouldn't expect from a jitter-bug like Zazzy.

"Hm...interesting." Asonja said to himself as he got himself comfortable. Though, he was trying very hard not to make a mess as he sat down on the couch. From what Zazzy has seen, Asonja would hang lazily on the couch. But upon seeing Asonja sitting on her couch, he looked calm and was sitting spine straight and hands on his knees.

Zazzy checked the clock on her wall and was surprised to see it read "1:00 A:M" With that she unceremoniously kicked off her shoes and plopped down on her fluffy armchair next to the couch. "You're like you sat on a cactus." The cat laughed.

"I-I know...I just don't want to mess up the place, ya know. I don't want to get too comfortable."

The cat tipped her head to the side a bit. "Kinda silly.. Dont'cha think? I mean, you are staying here. Plus I don't care." She reassured.

"I know!" Asonja was tense for a bit. "I just don't want to give a bad impression..."

The kitty gave a thumbs up. "Hey, don't sweat it. We're not acquaintances, we're friends here. Aren't we?" Zazzy said as she absentmindedly tinkered with a little glass ball that was lying on her arm rest.

"I suppose so..." Asonja nods. He was fiddling with his thumbs as he was contemplating on the idea of 'friendship'. He's never basically had a 'true friend' before since the ones he know usually beat him around and drag him into things that make him uncomfortable.

Zazzy was twitching over in her chair. Kinda getting a little stir crazy, but for the sake of the conversation. She remained as still as she could. Which looked weird since she was quivering.

"Are you uh...alright over there?" Asonja asked, looking away from the ground after a moments silence.

"Yeaaaaaaaaaa. I'm O.K, I'm just used to doing something all the time. Probably why I'm away from my house most of the time."

"I'm pretty sure there's something you could do while I stay here." Asonja suggested, laying down on the couch slowly and carefully. "I don't mind you leaving."

"True. But I don't wanna just leave you here with LuLu. Plus you're a guest.~" Zazzy responded.

"LuLu? Who's LuLu?"

Zazzy sat up in her chair. "Oh! She's around here somewhere. I found a chao garden one time and the little gal followed me home. Now she kinda hangs out here."

"...Chao, Garden?" Asonja tilted his head. "Fill me in on that, I have no idea what that is."

"Oh! A chao garden is usually a hidden spring where little chaos like to live. They usually nest there and raise their babies..." Just then, a little chao floated in wrapped in a tiny fluffy blanket. "Chao?" mumbled the sleepy creature. Zazzy perked up and patted her lap. In which the chao lazily flopped down onto her. "..Well. And they make these. This is Lulu~"

Asonja looked at Lulu the Chao, blinking a few times. "Huh. I never knew."

"Hehe. Neither did I when I first found out! Theres all kinds of things out there. It can get sorta-" Zazzy suddenly stopped for a momentary realization. "Oh wait. Whoops, I think I need to backtrack. I'm an adventurer for a living. Its where I get all.. well. 'This." 'She said, indicating in general to her home. "I've seen quite a few oddities. But thats what I love about Mobius." She said openly.

"Ah, so you're Nomadic?" Asonja asks. "Adventurous, courageous, and extremely optimistic. That's, like, the complete opposite for me."

"I guess you could call me that. And, you've been keeping track?" Zazzy inquired.

"Sorta." Asonja rubbed the back of his neck. "Though, Mobius has its greatness and sometimes its worst." He then muttered to himself, hoping she didn't hear, "Like the existence of powerless people like me..."

Zazzy's tail flicked at Asonja's shoes. "You'd be surprised of what a..'normal' person can do. There was this one guy who whooped my butt royally. Because I didn't know how to fight without my powers. My mentor didn't have powers either. But he still retired a war hero.  'Abilities don't make the man.' "

"Well, I don't know how to fight in general, despite my 'abnormality'." Asonja says, swaying his hand a bit like he was shooing a butler. "So what good could I possibly be if I don't even know how to throw a punch?"

The feline paused for a moment. Before loudly gasping. "I COULD TEACH YOU!" She yelled. Startling Lulu awake.

Asonja put his hands up for a moment. "Woahwoahwoah, settle down there. Don't wake the sleeping chao up. I'm pretty sure there are other ways to fight.."

"Eh. I guess. What we really need is another identity to teach you. I dunno know where they live though. I've been trying to find out for weeks, but I don't think its anywhere on this planet. " Zazzy sighed, scratching her head.

"I'm pretty sure I can figure out the Identity stuff myself." Asonja shrugged. "I just need to figure out the fight and I'll use my imagination for the other bit."

Zazzy sat there for a moment. "Wow. I'm just now processing some of this info. Does that mean if you practice, you can become like Virus?"

Asonja paused for a moment and held up his finger for a moment. "One moment...how do you know Virus?"

"I've met her a few times. She's um. Really something..." She half muttered. "You'd be surprised how many people I've run into."

"I'm scared of Virus for several reasons that I shall not explain." Asonja stated, already getting as pale as a sheep, considering he was already very pale to begin with.

Zazzy glanced at the clock again. "Say, are you hungry?"

"No." Asonja answered, but his stomach answered for him for making a loud grumble. A few seconds of silence passes and he sighs. "Yes..."

"Great! I'll make breakfast." She said with a small yawn. "Feel free to look around if you want." Zazzy instructed. As she carefully moved her sleeping chao and headed down the hall to her kitchen.

"Uh...alright..." He didn't seem to move from the couch as his eyes were slowly drifting off to sleep. "Why do I feel so...fatigued...?" He muttered to himself. "I didn't even do anything energetic..."

"Guess you just had a looong day. Or should I say night?" Zazzy called, the clanking of pots and pans were heard occasionally. During her absence, the little chao has gotten up and stretched a bit. Before coming over to inspect the stranger very closely.

Asonja was rather nervous around the chao, so he seemed to scoot away from it. "Well, I guess you could say I had a long day AND night. I stayed up 24 hours doing nothing but eating Ramen and watching TV. I think that was before I discovered my strange abilities."

The chao seemed undeterred. And simply landed on Asonja's head to play with his hair bangs. "Whoaaa. What, why would you pull an all nigher like that?" Zazzy called

Asonja was too scared and nervous to do anything about the chao, so he just let it do its thing. "I got nothing better to do."

Zazzy's head popped out of her kitchen for a moment. "You aren't allergic to eggs, right? Wait, do you even like eggs? If not I can make toast.IthinkIhavecerealinthefridgetooifyoudontlike eitherofthoseOHaaaandIhavebacon..." She continued to ramble. The little chao ended up making a little bed out of Asonja's hair. Seeming to take a liking to him.

"Well...I'm not much of a fan of eggs, nor toast..." Asonja said. "Buuuuut, I'll take the bacon though. I'll eat bacon any time of the day." He sighed when he saw the chao make a bed out of his hair.

Zazzy walked out of the kitchen with a little tray of food that she threw together. There was lots of bacon and English sausage rolls too. "Do you want something to drink?" She asked as she handed Asonja a little plate.

He took the plate cautiously. "Do you have milk? I don't prefer any specifically. Thank you for the food, I'd like to add."

The cat smiled. "Its nice to have company-" She stared, but was abruptly interrupted by her chao's undignified whine. "...Other than LuLu.. Anywho, lemme get that for you." She said, quickly leaving and reappearing with a glass of milk.

He takes the glass of milk, actually smiling lightly. "Thank you very much." He takes a bite of the bacon, sausage rolls, and a drink of milk. "These are all very good. I haven't had a decent meal in years..."

"Well, I'm glad I could fix something for ya." Zazzy lightly purred. As she chomped into a roll herself. "This feels so weird."

"What do you mean?" He asked. "You've never had a male walk into your house before? I mean, I will admit, I never had a female in my apartment except...Virus...but I have no control over what she does."

"Oh no, he he. The closest thing I have to that is my cousin. But I don't really see that guy too much.." Zazzy sighed, quickly changing subject. "So, What do you plan on doing with your new..abilities?"

"I don't know." Asonja shrugged, eating and drinking. "I don't do anything anyway..."

Zazzy sighed and finished off her roll. "We're gonna have to change that." She gargled as the cat finished her Orange juice.

"How are you going to change that?" Asonja asked as he had finished his plate and drank all his milk.

"I..." She said with a short pause, as she rose to her feet. "...Am gonna take you along with me on an adventure!" Zazzy said, as if she was just then coming to the decision.

"...Perhaps there's something less..." He tried to find his words. "...Not-so-nomadic?"

"Well, if you have any ideas I'm all ears~" Zazzy responded mischievously.

"..." He stayed silent, only to sigh at the end. "Yeah, I got nothing...guess that's the plan from now on..." He sounded like he didn't like the idea at all, but he was considerate of letting the idea happen.

The feline paused for a moment, and suddenly marched over to Asonja. Bending down, she was only 6 inches away from his actual face. "Sonj', If you don't wanna. Then I won't force you." She said, looking him right in the eye.

He didn't seem to look her directly in her eye, only because he was scared to like he would turn into stone once doing so. "I know, but I'm just saying that I have no ideas either and I am willing to go with your plan, that's all..."

Zazzy clasped her hands together, "Oh, this'll be so fun!" The cat chirped. Immediately diving for a chest and pulling out a very. VERY. Large map. Most of it was filled out, but there were several sections that were a blank. "Now then.. " Zazzy muttered. As she spread out the map on her living room floor. "Where shall we go?"

Asonja got slightly intimidated by the size of the map. He adjusted the collar of his trench coat, but didn't move from the couch. "Uhhm...whichever suits your curiosity..."

"Hmm, well. I don't wanna go to this forest here with you.. Because I found some pretty creepy critters there. And some stupid-smug-no-good-flipping..." Zazzy had to cut herself off, and take a deep breath in before speaking again. "Lets just stamp the rest of that forest. with 'No'... Oh! Wait, How's about here?" She said, pointing to some sort of jungle like land. "Its in the town, Adabat. I haven't attempted to check out the rest of the jungle because of several reasons."

"Let me guess: snakes, malaria, quicksand, sticky mud, and other dangerous creatures in a forest." Asonja listed out the negative, again.

"Oh yes, and a lot of rain. Its kinda humid over there so we'll need to make sure we don't wear a lot of clothing.." She added. His negativity completely flying over her head.

"Oh great, I'm gonna die..." Asonja rolled off the couch and landed face down, making groaning noises.

Zazzy fanned a hand. "No your NOT, silly. Plus this'll give you something to do."

He avoided making a comeback statement, and just rolled onto his back. "Alright alright...fine...are we going to, uh, pack or something? How're we even going to get there anyway?"

"Firstly, take this-" Zazzy replied, tossing a hefty backpack at him. "Load it up with a change of cloths. Secondly, I have these pretty little glass balls.." She said, pointing to the one she was fiddling around with earlier. "..That are linked to my previous 'checkpoint.' From where I last was, I set down one of these glass orbs and use another one to transport myself back." She sighed blissfully. "A little trinket I found when I was off in an ancient ruins."

"Ah...interesting." He didn't seem to pay much attention to the bag, as he doesn't usually wear anything other than his current outfit. But, he filled it anyway with practically the same shirt and pants.

"As for food, I usually pack lots of bread and jerky. Berries and other foods we can forage for in the jungle." Zazzy finished. Seeming extra excited to be doing this with Asonja.

He knew very well that she was excited, especially with him coming along, but he valued safety rather than survival. "What do we do if we're lost...?"

"We can always use re-call to jump back home. Its especially useful if we get into a tussle." She said. "SQUEE. I'm just so excited!" Zazzy hugged Asonja briefly, before checking through his backpack to make sure he had everything he would need. "Looks good in here, now to check mine.."

Asonja has then become a metaphorical tomato at that moment, before he shook his head quickly. "U-uh...yeah...then we can go?"

"Yep, then we can go." It seemed quite ironic that they were leaving right after they had arrived, but it didn't seem to bother the cat one bit as she finished packing her bag. "Hey, you never know if you'll find something interesting, make sure theres a little room left for trinkets~"

Asonja didn't even notice that they had arrived. He just gripped his bag nervously. "This is just a bad idea waiting to happen...for me, anyway. I have the roughest luck..."

"Mmmm, We'll see about that!"" She said absent-mindedly, as she seemed to take in all the scenery. They were in the middle of a tropical jungle. A trickle of sunlight beamed down from the thicks of the tree canopy above, which seemed to glow with radiance. A waterfall could be heard off in the far distance, among the various chirping of birds and crickets. It smelled like it had just recently rained, with just a twinge of a sweet flowery smell in the breeze. Everything seemed peaceful. For now.

Asonja stayed rather close to Zazzy, and sometimes yelped whenever the bushes moved. "This isn't a good idea, I want to go back hoooooome."

The cat patted the startled hedgehog on the head. "Everything is gonna be fineee, Sonj'. That's just the wind." Zazzy chuckled, pulling out a compass from her bag, and began to chart Northward.

Asonja just sighed worriedly and followed her.

There was an old path that they stuck to, grass sprigs and roots sprouted out, over taking the path. Luckily, the sun was dawning in the horizon, so it wasn't very hot. The only real pest was the occasional mosquito. "Before I charted here to the jungle, I talked to the natives of Adabat off on the coast. They said somewhere in the jungles was an ancient ruins long forgotten by their kind. The only clue we have to work off of is the river, so, first we find the river!" Zazzy babbled, seeming to be in her element.

Asonja just nods, and follows worriedly.

Zazzy paused for a moment, a sympathetic look gracing her face. "The first time is always the scariest. I won't let anything happen to you though."

"I hope nothing happens to me. I can hardly even survive. I'd just mix into the dirt with my sand remains."

The cat playfully nudged him with her tail. "Loosen up, sometimes you need a little danger in life to remember what's worth living for."

"I hate danger..." He grumbled.

The cat sighed. And simply nabbed his arm "ONWARD!" Zazzy called, pushing forward into the depths of the jungle, leaves from ferns occasionally brushed by as they soon were waist high in tall grasses.

Asonja was whimpering worriedly, but continued on under Zazzy's command regardless. "I swear to god if a snake bites me, I'm dying on the spot."

"If you taze the bite on the spot, the venom's poison dissipates and actually contains nutrients that can benefit your body." Zazzy replied matter-of-factually. "All it will do is hurt a little." She finished as she climbed over a small log.

"I have...no idea what you just said. I have no knowledge of survival."

The cat laughed, as she helped him over the log. "You'll get used to it eventually."

"Hopefully..." He sighed and continued to follow Zazzy, only to trip on his shoe and fall into a bush of spiky leaves. As the leaves had impaled his skin and clothes, he just groaned. "I was waiting for that to happen..."

Zazzy gently pulled him outta the bushes, and plopped her bag down and pulled out some ointment. "Aw, poor thing." She giggled a bit. Pulling out the needles before applying the first aid.

"I told you, I have the worst of luck." Asonja sighed and let her apply the first aid. "How long are we going to be here...?"

The feline smiled a bit again. "Well, I was hoping to at least get a 2-day trek in. But, we can honestly go home whenever we'd like." She replied. Adding a few band-aids with little hearts and smiley faces to his scrapes. "there we go~"

"...A bit unsettling, but, hey, it works." Asonja shrugs. "Lets fill in that map or...whatever."

"We're wasting day-light! C'mon." Zazzy said, pulling Asonja to his feet. Before plunging deeper into the abyss of the jungle.. Which was becoming quite warm.

"Hmm...this is uncomfortably warm..." Asonja muttered. "This could be a trap set up by...the villagers." He tried coming up with excuses.

"With a incredibly large heating unit. Sure." Zazzy said. "But I seriously doubt it." She kicked a little stone further down the path, and checked her compass again. "Let me know if you hear water, or even see any. I know we're close. I can smell it."

"Oh yeah I forgot cats have a keen sense of smell." Asonja said. "And what do I do? Nothing but turn into sand."

The cat's tail twitched as she checked around the area again. "..And be cute~" Zazzy flirted. Which was kinda odd.

Asonja blushed massively, but didn't seem to care if it was odd or not. All he was concerned about was getting out of the forest...alive. Though, he smiled to himself and the thought of sticking around with her a bit more.

"Hey. Ya hear that...?" Zazzy asked, ears twitching. A subtle white noise seemed to echo in the distance. "I bet thats the falls. Lets go check it out!" The feline said excitedly. taking off in a quick run.

Asonja jumped a bit and followed her, trying to keep up. "H-hey! Slow down! I'm gonna trip and I'll get lost!"

The blonde only slowed down a little, sometimes jumping to avoid twisted roots of the jungle floor. "Hm, I can't go too easy on you now. Besides, running is good for the legs." Zazzy called back with a mischievous grin.

"Running will kill my legs at this rate!" He called back, only to sigh and try to catch up with a very heavy breath.

Sighing, The agile cat swooped him off his feet and continued toward the now.. MUCH louder crashing sounds. "You hardly weight a thing!" She remarked.

Asonja was a blushing mess again when she picked him up. "I...I suppose..." He remarked when he heard what sounded like a waterfall.

Zazzy suddenly skidded to a halt as they reached the waterfalls. Setting Asonja down, she looked over the cliff side to view the seemingly bottomless chasm the yawned below. "Whoooooa." She marveled. Though it was quite hard to hear over the roaring sound of water right next to them.

"Jeez...nature made this?" Asonja muttered, regardless of her hearing him. "It's...rather unique, I'll give it that. It's too hot though, I'm sweating to death."

Laughing a bit, Zazzy smacked a mosquito on her arm before replying. "..Wait until noon! Then we'll be two strips of bacon in a very large, over grown salad." Scanning the area, the quickly noticed some decaying stairs near the ledge where they stood. Getting down on her knees, and practically dangling herself over the edge, Zazzy took a closer looks the the ancient mode of transportation. "Hmmm.."

"Please be careful, Zazzy..." Asonja said nervously. "I don't like how far up this is..."

"Hey! I think I know where we need to go next!" She called, and without another word she pushed herself down the edge of the cliff. Disappearing to who-knows-where.

"AHHH!" Asonja jumped back. "ZAZZY!" He looked off the edge. "Please don't be dead...I can't fix dead people..."

"Whaaat? I'm fine, silly." She called from down below. There was a good 7 foot drop down to the crumbled stairs. Which rested upon a solid stone floor, that was relatively flat. Despite their fragile appearance, the crumbly stairs held their own against the feline's weight. "It looks like the temples were built along the walls of this canyon!"

"Huh...? Really?" Asonja leaned forward a bit to see Zazzy more clearly, but lost his grip and began to slide off the edge.

The most the fall could have done to him was bruise some skin. Perhaps draw a little blood. But none the less, the feline still panicked. "Whoa!" The cat yelped in surprise, rushing under him to catch the hedgehog before he fell.

It was a good thing Asonja was light, otherwise she would've went with him into the abyss. Asonja was panting and pale as a cloud. "Oh my god...I almost died..."

"But, you didn't!" She said as positively as she could muster. Even though she herself, was a bit scared at first. Setting the man down again, she looked down further to see what might lie ahead. The stairs made a brief descent to a cave that had archways carved into its walls, making either side of the abyss very visible. Beyond that was difficult to tell.

"Did you bring a light so we could see our way through?" Asonja asked. "Or anything to backtrack?"

Zazzy reached under her poncho and pulled out several lighting sources. "I have flairs, a flashlight, and some matches. Also, myself, if it really comes to that. But, I doubt it!" She said, picking the flashlight out of the bunch. Then, she shoved everything else back into her seemingly endless pockets on the inside of her poncho. "Lets go!" She hummed, flipping the flashlight on and handing it to Asonja. Wondering if it would help sooth his nerves.

He only took it nervously and waved it in front of him. "I guess I'll lead because I have the flashlight..."

The cat gave him two thumbs up as she wandered a bit behind him. The occasional water droplet falling from the roof of the porous cave. The holes varied in sizes and shapes. Sometimes being big enough to view the outdoors from its hole filled stone.

Asonja felt nothing but fear at this rate. He couldn't get his legs to stop, due to their curiosity. His body shivered both from the cold, and from fear itself. He sneezes from the moisture, obviously not used to it. "I don't see anything...maybe we turn back?"

"Oh, theres plenty of stuff here." Zazzy commented, looking around with huge, rounded eyes. That occasionally flashed when the light hit them just right. "..But I think thats partially because I'm a cat. If you want we can go home." She sympathized.

Asonja was silent, seeming to be hesitant with the fact. He suddenly stopped and looked at her, partially any light hitting him with only the right-side of his face was shown. "No. I'll stay with you. I'd hate for you to be upset with me if we left prematurely. Besides, there's no going back now; I'm already getting the feeling that something is slightly off, yet I don't know what it is."

The feline grinned. "..I'm glad. And thank you. Up ahead there there's a bend in the cave, I think we'll turn left because it seems brighter on that end." Zazzy said. Continuing along the hard and musty floor.

Asonja nods and continued going in the direction, going to the left as she had stated. "I hope you're right about this. I'd hate to encounter traps. I was going to say an adjective describing the traps, but I won't say it because it's rather immature of me to say at this kind of tension."

"Well, I'm not seeing any traps. Just looks like an exit." She informed, blinking away the extra light that was flooding in. The sounds of the waterfall was much louder since it was flowing directly over the cave. A spray of water was carried in by the breeze. Zazzy shivered with excitement. "C'mon!" She said, running ahead on the slippery rocks.

"Careful, these rocks are smooth and the drizzle adds to their slippy nature." Asonja stated as he walked on ahead, turning off his flashlight once it was light enough.

Shuddering for a moment, Zazzy came to an abrupt halt and poked her head out of the cave for a moment. When she came back inside the cave, the feline's fur was starting to prickle. "Um. I need to look for an umbrella." Zazzy said nervously, tail twitching as she dug around under her poncho for the item.

Asonja just walks on past her, not minding the drizzle at all. "You're not going to melt, Zazzy. It's actually rather warm."

"No no nooo.." She muttered. Sounding quite like a terrified cat that you could find on the internet. Her eyes were rounded out, and ears looked like they were two steps away from folding back. "Ah. Uuumm.." Zazzy continued to search through her poncho. Its quite hard to look for something with out seeing it.

Asonja thought for a moment before attempting to find some nearby sand. "You're going to die, Zazzy...I'll try to think of something while I'm here.."

"Nope, But you will If I don't get gear on.." She frowned. "If I touch that water I won't get shocked, but anything swimming in it, around it. Or, a passerby walking through it. Would be fried. And I've had enough of shocking you for a lifetime."

"I don't think you've ever shocked me." Asonja stated as he found some sand.

The cat snorted. "Your right. I think it was multiple times. Don't you remember?" She prompted, mildly confused at the amnesia he seemed to be having.

"Uhhh...nope." Asonja shrugged.

Scratching her head, for a moment. She decided not to dwell upon it, for now.. Edging near the water, Zazzy sighed for a moment. "Just.. Don't touch the water until I'm on the other side.."

"Gotcha." He stayed silent for a while before coming over with a black umbrella with purple roses on it. "Here's an umbrella."

"Heeeere we go.." She said, as she stepped out of the cave and into the spray of water. While the umbrella shielded most of her body, the metal on it touched both her hands and the water around her. Almost instantly, Sparks flew left and right into the water. Zapping a few fish that was coming down flow. Hurrying her pace, she reached the other side a little damp, but ok. "You'll have to wait a few moments for everything to go away!" Zazzy's calls came in muffled by the water.

He didn't here what she said, before he brought his hand through. The current of electricity caught into his body, through his body with massive amounts of voltage, and into the ground. He collapsed, coughing out smoke. "Bleeeh...tastes like electrons..."

Zazzy couldn't see though the stream all too well, So all she could do is wait on the other end helplessly. "Sonj' are you ok?"

"I'm fine...just...had a bit of a shock." Asonja stood up and walked through the stream once they electric charge was gone. "Alright, I'm good."

Patting him down a moment with a towel, she sighed. "i'm sorry that I hurt you. Sometimes I just don't know how to contain all.. This." She gestured at her general self.

"Don't worry about it." Asonja shrugged. "Sometimes I don't know how to control myself either. Well...more of my depression and anxiety, anyway. Though, now that I'm sort of...not myself to begin with, I read up on the species themselves and it says that they're actions change how strong they are. Say, you workout your body once in a while. Your strength would go up and stay up for a while and would continue to grow the more you do so. However, if you don't do anything like that, your body, or in their case, their "core", would start to deteriorate and lessen in strength. If it gets too low, they could die."

After a moments of silence, he stated again, "So, basically, in my terms...I haven't worked out for 11 years, and I've only been getting weaker. And I took an analysis on my core...and it seems that I only have...uh...2 days to live if I stay like this? Maybe? Or...was it tomorrow?"

The blonde cat froze. "W-What??!" The words tumbled out. "We need to get this sorted out.. Fast!" Zazzy said, trying to remain calm. But the fur along her spine was rising and fear gnawed in the back of her head.

Asonja put his hands on her shoulders, keeping her still. "Relax! Relax! It should be easy to fix...!"

"Hnn. Ok. ook." She murmured. Trying to calm herself. "We. we would need to get you to strengthen your bonds then. Right?" Zazzy said, thinking a bit more clearly now.

"I believe that is the case." Asonja nods. He looked determined for a moment, but he then hunched over, already discouraged. "Though, I'm going to be REALLY sore afterwards...and it's going to be a huge pain to lift things 100 times my weight..." In retrospect, Asonja weighed approximately 50 pounds, a tad underweight than most hedgehogs.

Tapping her foot, she looked around for a moment. "Hmm. Y'know what. theres a lot of stuff around here that you could use to strength train with.."

"..." Asonja seemed to get nervous as he poked his index fingers together, questioning his choices as of now. "I'm...not entirely sure they'll do me any good...besides, something could happen like...I could be injured!"

"..." She stood there for a moment. Until her face brightened up like a light bulb. "Oh! I know! Let's head home, a good old friend of mine has a decked out gym that he won't mind us using." Zazzy chirped, digging out her return orb.

Asonja nodded, seeming to like that idea. Though, what he was afraid of most was energy being lost while doing so. He keeps forgetting that because he's half-identity, they can practically workout all day without being tired. And the next day they won't be sore and their cores would be stronger than ever.

Reaching for Asonja's hand, she gently tapped at the orb's surface, and they were instantly back home....

(Chapter 3) -Boot Camp
 =This chapter directly bridges from a certain roleplay that Silver and Silva did.=

..Dusting off her boots, Zazzy dropped her bag down and sighed. "Well then! Lets go! Theres no time to waste!"

"Well, I mean, there's always time for breaks?" Asonja asked, while he was blushing at the fact that Zazzy just held his hand for a quick while and just didn't know how to react to it.

Zazzy sighed. "Ok, lets take a breather and maybe get a cup of coffee for you.." She said, with a twitchy tail.

"Well, I dunno about coffee or tea..." Asonja inquired. "I never had any of them."

She laughed. "I don't even know why I have coffee in my house. It does me absolutely no good." And with that Zazzy headed back into the kitchen. In no time flat, she was back with Some cookies and a coffee for Asonja. "Here.." She handed him the hot cup with care.

He took the coffee with much more care than even she did. He sniffled the coffee, noticing how strong it smelled. It made his face recoil a bit from the smell, and he took a small sip. Suddenly, like he had just gained electrical powers, a tingling sensation went from his toes to the tip of his ears. He placed down the coffee cup and cookie as slow and normally as he could before walking out, closing the door behind him, and speeding off around the cabin.

"W.. Whoa!" She gasped, quite startled at his sudden leave. Zazzy quickly shoved a cookie in her mouth and followed after Asonja as quickly as her legs could carry her. "HEY! Do you even KNOW where your going??!"

"No! I can't even control my legs! I've never been this energetic in my life!" Asonja was just running around the cabin in circles. His feet were going so fast, it looked like a figure 8.

Zazzy marveled at Asonja's incredible speeds. "That is so crazy! Wait, lemme see if I can snag you-" She said, sticking a foot out right under The hedgehog's feet to trip him.

He did infact trip over her foot. He skidded on the ground on his face as he slid meters and meters before hitting a tree trunk with his head. A few apples fell on his head too for extra comic relief.

"Doooo!" Zazzy flinched, feeling empathy for poor Asonja. "Well. We can add coffee to the list of things your not allowed to have. BUT! You went really fast! That was pretty cool!" She commented, as the kitty jogged over to the tree and helped Asonja up.

Asonja rubbed his head. "Yeah...that was all from my core energy too. I guess the coffee activated my core, gave it a huge strength boost, and whenever I make one small step, it was like I went in fast motion."

"Hmm.. Starting to think that wasn't a bad idea.. It got you to move!" She chuckled a bit, checking his head for injuries.

Oddly, nothing bad was there; it was just a bruise. "True...though, my head is giving me massive amounts of pain..."

"It'll go away eventually." She hummed. Being as optimistic as ever. "So, you think we can walk.. NORMALLY. To the Jules' place?" Zazzy teased.

"Who?" Asonja asked. Perhaps the hit in the head made him temporarily forget what they were going to do.

"Jules." She repeated. "Y'know, the guy with a gym. Silly."

"Ohhhhhh...." Asonja stood there for a moment, before going behind the tree he hit. "...Please don't make me go..."

"Where? The gym or 6 feet under the earth..?" She jabbed. "I'm not loosing you. So whether you like it or not your GOING to exercise."

He just whimpers in response. He wasn't the kind to excitedly go out and exercise all the time, but he nodded to the deal because he doesn't want to make her upset.

'Now. C'mon, don't make that face. I want to make sure your healthy." She sighed, patting his head.

"I understand..." Asonja says, his ears instinctively moved back a bit like cat. "I'm just a bit nervous, that's all. I dunno what this guy will do to me."

She chuckled a bit. "He has a way with people.. But don't worry, he doesn't bite." Zazzy chirped. Leading Asonja along to a subway. In a good 20 minutes they arrived. It was a busy street with several apartment complexes lined up and stacked on top of each-other. "This is the place"

"...Doesn't look like a gym to me. Looks like one of my apartments." Asonja said. "But, I'm not doubting you."

"Its what on the inside that counts~" She hummed. Heading over to a com system and buzzing for apartment '24.' Within a few seconds a harsh-sounding voice answered through the speaker of the coms. "Who is this? Whadda ya want?" It growled. "Hiya Jules. I'm here with a friend to possibly use your gym-" Zazzy started to say, but was abruptly cut off. "Zaz? Is that you? Pfft, you shouldn't have to ring at all. I'll be right there."

After a few moments of silence an old gemsbok came to the apartments gate and unlocked it so they could enter. The first thing Zazzy did was hug the man as she came around the gate. "Hey, its been awhile there missy! Was starting to think you got caught up in all those adventures of yours.." The elder gentlemen smiled warmly. "Haha. Not a chance. I brought Thumb-print cookies." Zazzy responded, shaking a tin of cookies. "Ah. Good. Good. And, who. Are you?" The gemsbok asked the hedgehog.

Asonja stepped back a bit, worriedly. "I...umm...I'm Asonja, sir...Zazzy's friend..."

"Hn. Come in. Come in." He fanned, showing them to his flat's door. Which was left wide open. Everything was neat and orderly in the man's house. Setting the tin down on a counter Zazzy turned to face the two excitedly. "So! We're here to use the gym, if you don't mind." Zazzy chirped as the old man reached for the tin and helped himself to some cookies. "Oh? Really now? This otta be good.." Jules commented, mischief alight in his bright eyes.

"It's...nothing too bad, s-sir..." Asonja stuttered. He was just intimidated by the man, he lacked every "man" quality: he a coward, very weak, and definitely not muscular. "She's just...concerned about my health and well-being...and wants to help out."

"Heh. Sounds like her alright." Jules chuckled. "You need help whippn' this boy into shape?" He asked Zazzy, who promptly shook her head. "Hopefully not. I'm not even sure you can handle-" Zazzy stopped mid sentence, and covered her mouth. Jules eyes narrowed. "What was that you were sayn? How incredibly strong and handsome I am? I may look old but this bag o bones still got some tricks, girly." While it sounded harsh, his face gave away everything. The gemsbok was just playing round.

"Well. Why don't you show him to the gym? I'll...uh... be there in a second." He said, shoving cookies in his mouth. Zazzy motioned for him to follow, and she lead him to a garage full of various exercising equipment.

Asonja followed along, nervously. He didn't get the message of Jules playing around at all, as he wasn't very good at interpreting facial expressions with vocal speech. "I could use a whipping..." Asonja muttered to himself. "If it'll make me stronger by tomorrow, I shouldn't worry...as long as it doesn't kill me..."

The kitty was trying hard not to giggle. "He won't hurt you.." Zazzy left out the 'Too much' part.

Asonja just sighed and continued. "So...uhh...what's the plan?"

"Well, lets try strength training." She said, hoisting up a 5lb weight. And carefully handing it to Asonja.

He took it, but after a while he put it down. "...It's too heavy after a while."

The old man sauntered in, wiping his mouth of jelly. "Just 5lbs? Good gracious, when was the last time you worked out kiddo?" The Gemsbok asked.

"...Never, sir." Asonja shamefully admitted. "In my 17 years of life, I have never exercised once for over 8 years."

The gemsbok whistled. "Whewie boy. Well you're gonna learn today! Ya know how to do a push up?"

"I do, sir..." Asonja said, nervously. "But..I cannot do it for long..."

"What you need is endurance training, kiddo." Jules shoved a large jug of water to Asonja. "You need to drink at least half of this." He said, looking at Asonja's shoes for a moment. "And those won't do either. You'll strain your feet in those." He muttered, heading off to a locker to dig around for some shoes. "What your size, son?"

"Uhh..." He had to put down the jug to examine his shoe for the size. "A 3.5, sir."

Zazzy patted Asonja's shoulder, and smiled at him reassuringly. "Hmm, here. Take these." Jules tossed a pair of shoes called 'nukes'

He caught them and questioned their look. They didn't quite catch his eye that much, but he put them on anyway. He took note of Zazzy's reassurance at the back of his head for later.

"So, we're gonna start with somethin' simple and get you on some strength slash endurance training. Now lets get you doing some warm ups." Jules said, stretching his limbs for example.

Asonja nods again, fixing his glasses nervously. He was worried about laying their motionless on the floor on accident when his arms get too tired. He practically stood there.

Zazzy nudged him and motioned him to copy her. As she bent down to touch her toes. "Just go as far as you can manage, don't strain yourself." She whispered.

He did as he was told, not going further than his kneecaps. "Am I...doing this right? I look ridiculous and my back is killing me just by doing this..." He was whispering.

Zazzy snorted back a laugh. "Your doing.. g-great." She giggled. "No. He's not, don't encourage bad posture." Jules scolded. Adjusting the position of his back and straitening his knees. "Now you bend."

He tried again, this time actually touching his toes. "Oh...so this is how you do it..." He says normally.

"You DID it! Great job!" Zazzy chirped. "Pfft. He's only on the warm-ups, missy." Jules grumbled, being the debby-downer. "Lets get you up on the treadmill." the gemsbok said, gesturing to the machine behind him.

Asonja looked at the complicated treadmill, which seemed to have all kinds of speeds, like the impossible "speed of sound" and higher. "Let me guess...Sonic goes to this gym sometimes?"

"Heheh NOPE! I just have that setting on there to give people an impossible challenge." Jules cackled. Setting the treadmill to normal so Asonja could warm up.

He tried to catch up with the treadmill's speed, but was slowly down quickly. He already began to become fatigued after a while.

"C'MON SOLDIER! This ain't very hard!" Jules barked. "Hey, don't be so tough on him. He's just started." Zazzy protested, turning down the settings for Asonja.

Asonja actually went against Zazzy's suggestion politely and turned the speed back up when he started picking up the pace. "No, let him pester me." He suggested. "This is the only chance I'm getting and I don't wish to let this chance go to waste. I can go faster..."

The perky cat nodded, with another one of her reassuring smiles. Jules actually grinned a bit himself. "Thats the spirit!" He said, slapping Asonja's back.

He nods, taking a few deep breaths. Can't back out now, was his only thought. He brought the speed up to normal sprinting speed and went from there.

Jules narrowed his eyes for a moment. And cranked up the speed to the 'Hare' setting. Wanting to see what the boy was made of.

His body started to glow purple from Asonja's Half-Identity core and he went up to par with the treadmill. Asonja was too concentrated to notice that he had forgotten that he could do this.

Zazzy's eyes widened in amazement, like she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Jules however, managed to keep a strait face on. "Hmmm.." He then cranked up the settings even higher.. this one read 'RoadRunner.' How stupid..

Of course, Asonja's body unconsciously went up to speed with the RoadRunner setting. His feet were going so fast, they were like a blur, just like Zazzy witnessed earlier. His purple glow had began to grow brighter.

"Girly, you got yourself a runner!" Jules muttered to Zazzy, before cranking it up to the more serious settings. The smell of smoke was starting to rise from the machine.

Asonja kept up again, the glow getting more and more intense. He still ran with no problems, with only one bead of sweat going down his head.

Jules seemed determined to tire out the kiddo. So he just cranked it full blast to 'Gotta go fast.' Zazzy stepped back a bit ans shielded her eyes from the light was was rising up from Asonja.

The light actually didn't grow as intense. Asonja had actually started to lose, but managed to keep up for a little while before turning off the flaming treadmill. As the treadmill came to a stop. Asonja collapsed onto his side on the floor, panting. The shoes he had on earlier had burnt up and melted. His feet had visible blisters from running too fast. The glow he had on earlier also faded.

The smoke detector in the garage went off, making its annoying chirping noises. Jules hobbled away for a moment to go turn it off. Zazzy ran to grab a first aid kit, as a small drizzle of water fell from the sprinklers overhead. "Sonj, Are you ok?! You did great!" She said, getting out some Neosporin and slapping it on the hedgehog's feet.

"Y-yeah...I'm fine..." Asonja stated. The Neosporin helped speed up the process of his body fixing his feet at a visible rate. "...I had no idea I was able to do that...all I did was concentrate and...it just happened."

"W-wow. That was incredible!" Zazzy gasped. "I KNEW YOU COULD DO IT!" She gushed. Jules scowled for a second. "Man, my poor treadmill bit the dust.." He griped. "Well! Good thing too! Now I have an excuse to go get a new one. Ya did aright kid. What even are you? Part Banshee?" He joked.

Asonja didn't answer that question as he got up, looking embarrassed more than happy. "I'm sorry I made such a mess, sir...I can leave if you want me to..."

"Nah. Never had a kid like you set foot in my gym. It'll liven up the place." He said, slapping Asonja's back. Before handing him a jug of water. "You're gonna need this."

He takes the jug, and started taking a drink from it. He actually managed to drink half of the jug before stopping. "...I could stay, then."

"Sure ya can." Jules replied, some what surprised. "But don't be expectn' a sissy party over here now. We're men.." Jules paused. "And Young lady." He added. Zazzy grinning from ear to ear. "That means he likes ya." She whispered to Asonja.

Asonja didn't say anything with that, just nodded in consideration. "Yes, that is true...so what is next on your list for things for me to do?"

"I want you to to work on your upper arm strength. We're gonna have you do a set of pushups. then some Biceps and triceps curls." Jules said decisively. Helping Asonja to his feet. "That is if.. You can still walk there, kiddo." He chuckled.

Actually, Asonja could walk just fine. His feet healed much quicker than any tissue healing in history. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm ready to begin anyway, ya know, just to get it done and over with."

"Atta Boy!" Jules cheered. Leading Asonja over to a blue cushy mat. "Now then, Drop and give me 20 pushups! This should be no problem, wonder boy." Zazzy gave Asonja two thumbs up and a big grin.

Asonja narrowed his eyes, sighed, nodded, and dropped down on the ground. Once he got onto his hands, he started to glow a dim purple again as his core went into affect. He began to go up and down in a nice and steady pushup formation, and finished once he reached twenty. "All done, sir."

Jules's eyes narrowed and he tossed two 10 LB weights at the hedgehog. "Do some Curles. We'll say 20 for Biceps and 20 for triceps.

He still glowed a pretty bright purple as he lifted the weights like decent-sized feathers as he did 20 biceps and triceps on each arm. Afterwards, he sets the weights down and his aura seemed to pulse a bit at the increase of power and energy. "All done, sir."

Jules hid his astonishment with a scowl. "Kiddo, are you cheatin'?" He asked, patting Asonja down to check for any tools he could have used to make things easier. When his search had no results. The old man stood there stumped. "Are ya'll yanking my chain 'ere? Zazzy you said this kid hasn't exercised a day in his life." Jules asked accusingly. "Yep. That's right! The fitness part I mean.. Not the chain yanking. He's doing this all on his own! Isn't it cool?" Jules eyes narrowed. "What even ARE you?"

"...I'm just a hedgehog sir...well...partly..." Asonja says, standing up. "...Not exactly sure how to explain it."

"Well, out with it." Jules demanded. Staring down Asonja like he could see his soul.

"W-well...uh..." Asonja stuttered a bit. "I'm...partly dragon and Identity, sir..."

" 'Identity?' What in sweet baby caroline's name is that?" Jules asked, stupefied. "Oh, their like these super cool techo people made out of nanites. And they can shape-shift into cool constructs." Zazzy gushed. Jules pinched the bridge of his nose, like a headache was coming on. "So.. How long has he trained to use his abilities?"

"I've never trained them, sir." Asonja says. "It was only very recent that I learned how to use it when I could do this." He held out his right arm, and the sound of dry sand sounded as his sleeve rolled down to show a black blade. He swiped his left arm off with that blade, and his arm grew back, the tiny sand-like particles recreating it again. The remains just vanished. His right arm turned back to normal. "The dragon side of me give powerful strength at birth, but I wasn't able to activate it yet. The Chaos energy that is in me will help me achieve that power."

"..." Jules had to take a sit down an a chair for a moment. Silently folding his hands over eachother and resting his chin upon them. "Ooooo wow. You stumped him!' Zazzy exclaimed. "He'll be like that for awhile"

"I-I'm sorry about that, sir..." Asonja apologized. "Was that...too gruesome?"

Jules waved the kid away. "Naw. Best you don't mention this science stuffs to me boy." He said, rising from his chair. "Zaz' you love to attract a weird crowd. Girly." Zazzy grinned. "I know. HEY! WHAT IF I HAD A PARTY SOME TIME. That would be cool. We could make snacks and drinks. and have pillow fights.." She started to jabber. But Jules seemed to ignore her, like he'd gotten used to it. He pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled something down. "I'm gonna make you a list of a daily exercise regimen to get you nice and fit." Jules said, handing Asonja the finished piece of paper.

Asonja took it with two hands like the paper was delicate. He glimpsed at it real quick. "Does it require any equipment that I can get?"

"Just some weights. If ya don't have any substitute with Milk jugs or rocks. Everything else can be done without equipment." Jules replied. Patting Asonja on the back. "You surprise me, kiddo." He said, hobbling back into his apartment. Leaving the pair to their own devices.

Asonja turned back to Zazzy. "Welp...I guess we go back home?"

Zazzy hugged Asonja before backing up and grasping his hand. "Yep. Now we go home. SQUEE!" She chirped. Elated at Asonja's recent victory. She then led him back out of the apartment and back to her little cottage.

Asonja stayed close behind, blushing a bit while she held his hand. It was rather cold to begin with, but strangely enough he thought she didn't care about it. As soon as they got into the cottage, Asonja laid back on the couch, groaning in relaxation. "Finally...I'm just gonna take a nap here..."

Zazzy patted his head and purred. "Ok, I'm gonna go and work on a few things." She whispered. Grabbing a near-by blanket and tossing it over Asonja. "Night."

He smiled lightly and patted her shoulder. "Night. I'll be here if you need me." He yawned, stretched, and soon fell asleep. He laid on his right shoulder.

''His left shoulder tingled a bit, and its feint glow pulsed brighter. Even from under the blankets its soft glow could be spotted. Off in the thousands of miles away. Something. Or someone. Was calling to him.''

In his dreamworld. A familiar voice echoed in the distance. ' Did you miss me?'

Asonja had full control in his dreamworld, like he and Xan were in an endless black void. '' 'Well, I was wondering when you'd show up again...Xan. We can't get along, can we?'''

What can I say. I don't play nice with food.' ' Xan's voice retorted. A version of him materialized into Asonja's dream. "Looks like someone's been busy~"

"I have been attempting at my promises." Asonja looked at Xan full-on. "Perhaps when the time comes, we might have a little duel. How about that?"

"Oh really, now? After all I've done for you?" Xan sniffed, putting on a display of sarcastic remorse.

"Ah jeez, don't start crying." Asonja joined in the sarcasm. "It's ruin the atmosphere..."

Chuckling, Xan bent over so he could be at eye level with the little man. "Pleasantries aside. If you want a fight you'll have one. Name your terms. Big shot."

"Name yours aswell; it's only fair." Asonja crossed his arms. "Now...if I win this little duel, You'll have to erase your link to me, if possible, and don't ever bother taking control of me. Ever."

"Heh. Deal. Now, if I win..I get you. Or specifically. Your powers. And I expect you to remain in Salim." Xan chimed in. "Now the real question is.Where does this all take place? Reality or a figment of your imagination?"

"Figment" Asonja smirked. "You're in my domain! Unless...if you don't want to fight here where I have an advantage,which is possibly unfair on your end...why not we meet somewhere in the reality world?" Asonja then backed up and took out his hand. "Also, you got yourself a deal."

"Well. Everglynn forest then. I want your burial grounds to look pretty.~" Xan hummed. Dropping Asonja's hand like a dead weight.

He didn't seem to mind it, he even grabbed Xan's hand for a moment and let go all in a second. "Glad to see you're considerate about this. I'll be seeing you at noon sharp tomorrow, purple chewing gum." He shrugged, just coming up with that horrible insult in a whole second as well.

"Cute. I'll see you then." He whispered, as the projection and Xan dissipated. And then all together..Vanished.

Asonja had woken up, facing up at the ceiling, holding his left shoulder where the tattoo was. He gripped it tightly, his heart rate just going faster the more he thought about it; his entire life was on the line, and he couldn't bare to think about this much responsibility to stay alive...for Zazzy's sake.

''The tattoo itched like a sun burn. All was quiet in the Mace Household. Except for the occasional ticking of a clock and the sounds of the wind outside. Zazzy must be sleeping.''

Asonja groaned quietly as his held his burning left shoulder. "This was a mistake...I shouldn't have acted so smug..." Asonja looked up at the ceiling before getting out of the couch to look for Zazzy to quietly wake her up.

''The main room connected into a two-part hallway. One half of the hall way branched to the left, the other to the right. To the right seemed to be the kitchen and some-other room. The left had three other doors. Out of the three, only one of them was cracked open. A soft, pinkish light came through the door's crack.''

He quietly, and slowly, entered that room. He whispered, holding his left shoulder, "Zazzy? Are you awake?"

Zazzy was fast asleep on her desk top. It looks like she was working on a craft. As she stirred, little flakes of glitter and paper fell out of her hair. Creating a small plume of shiny dust. "Hnnnu? wuuut?" She yawned. Stretching out her arms on the desk before sitting up. "Sonj?" H..hai." She said groggily.

She saw him gripping his left shoulder in pain, a faint blue glow still resonating from it. "Ah, sorry...I was...just...wondering if you were still awake."

Zazzy had to do a double take. Rubbing her eyes to make sure there wasn't glitter in her eyes. "Uh. Your Shoulder is glowing. Did you fall on a glowstick? That happened to me once.." She asked, a bit more alert than before.

"No it's...worse." Asonja said before taking off his trench coat, obviously leaving his grey tanktop on, to reveal the glowing blue tattoo. "Yeah...I dunno if you've seen this before but...I'm kinda in deep trouble..."

The feline flinched for a moment. Immediately getting up and examining Asonja's arm. "Sonj, have you blacked out recently or..or experienced headaches?" She stammered. The mark was ice cold to the touch, but stopped burning when Zazzy ran a finger over it.

Asonja winced a bit, before answering. "Well when I woke up I had the headaches...but I saw him. We talked and...I got too smug and we agreed on a duel that my stupid smug self came up with...we're to fight at noon tomorrow..."

Zazzy paused. "... 'Him?' Smug? Sonj', please don't tell me you got involved with.. with parasites." The cat said quietly. Eyes rounded with worry.

"..." He nods, silent. "I won't tell you then...only because you told me not to..."

The cat's hand retreated back and Zazzy started to massage her temples. "...This isn't good." She muttered in a hushed voice. Suddenly, she grabbed Asonja's face by his chin, and looked right into his eyes. Like she was searching for something.

Asonja was blushing the whole time, not exactly sure what she was doing. "Uhhm...perhaps there are other methods to check inside my mind?"

"I'm looking at your eyes. I'm not a mind reader, goof ball." She replied with a weak smile. Giving his head a light, playful shove. "Your eye color changes when a parasite is present. Sometimes even the fur color.. So one isn't around now.." She briefly glanced at his mark. "..But. There was one. Judging by the mark. How are you still alive? Who was the parasite? How long have you had the mark?" She bombarded him with questions.

"Slow down..." Asonja said, seeming to stress out a bit. "His name is Xan...smug bastard he is, but...when I saw him, I began to lose control my sense of mind and go absolutely crazy on a bloodlust. I don't know why...I've had this mark for about 3 days now."

A fire seemed to spark in Zazzy eyes. "I'm gonna wring that stupid pin cushion by his freakishly skinny neck.." She growled. It seemed this topic was bringing out Zazzy's more.. darker. The less friendly kind. "..His personality must have rubbed off on you. And.. 3 days? Ah. This.. this isn't good." Zazzy mewed.

Asonja seemed to also get a more serious look to him. His eyes glimmered a royal purple, as well as some bits of his fur. "I don't want you to get involved. This was my doing, so I am responsible if I lose..."

"..." Zazzy stood there in silence. A deep frown graced her face. Wordlessly, she hugged Asonja, and buried her head under his arm. "...I. I don't wanna loose you." Her voice came muffled.

Asonja didn't say anything, but hugged her back with his available arm, petting the fur behind her head. "I know...but all we can do for now is just...believe, I suppose...What do you think we should do before noon strikes?"

"We prep you. Where are you suposto fight?" Zazzy asked, pulling away from Asonja.

"I believe in Everglynn forest." Asonja responded.

Zazzy snorted. "Of course. Typical." She muttered. Heading out the door, and down the hall. Without bothering to even tell Asonja what she was doing.

This made him slightly worried as he came after her. "W-where are you going?"

"Getting a rune. How strong do you think you are, mentally? Because Xan loves to play tricks on the mind." Zazzy said, being quite serious. The rainbows and sunshine girl had gone out to lunch.

"...uhh...I'm pretty intelligent sometimes, but I have loads of self-doubt and low self-esteem..." He was highly cautious of this situation, understanding that his entire life was on the line, doubting the fact that he could die any moment early because of his health with his core.

"...Which is really bad because he could jump you at any time. And break the agreement all together. Keep your distance from him." Zazzy sighed. "No doubt, that dumb kitchen knife will be coming with someone he thinks can hold up against you. But. I don't know who. So I gotta prepare you for the basics." She said. In her hands she clutched a small rune. In which she hid in Asonja's pocket. "...In case he's a magic user..You should be covered for that."

"Thank you, Zazzy." Asonja smiled a little bit. "I hope this goes well."

Zazzy seemed to swallow her fears. And put on a determined smile. "You beat the crap outta that lizard for me, ok?"

He nods, and even gave her a hug. This was the first time Asonja had hugged her first, and not her first. "I'll try..I'm pretty sure there are other people you can find if I am beaten..."

"Silly. Why would I ever replace you?" She purred a little bit. Trying to sooth her nerves. The sun was peaking through the windows of Zazzy's house. It was morning.

"...you may have a point on that." Asonja responded, with a small smile. "Anyway, I need you to stay here while I go out into the forest. I don't want you to watch and worry about me, I'll be fine.."

She was very tempted to secretly follow him. But.. then she'd loose his trust. Zazzy dug around in her poncho and handed Asonja a small folded piece of paper. "This should get you there..."

He takes it. "What is it?" Asonja began to unfold it.

It was a small section of the world that Zazzy had sketched out. A piece to her massive map she'd built. On it, was several locations.. Such as.. A sketch of a few key buildings marked as 'Central City.' Several glades. And even the location of a chao garden. But up in to top corner was the edge of a dark forest labeled 'Everglynn forest.' Under it had a note to Zazzy. From Zazzy. ' 'Creepo here!! Wear lots of bug spray and bring gloves!' 'It said. With several frowny faces drawn next to the note.

"A map.." She replied. Glancing out the window with a sigh.

"...What're you upset about?" Asonja asked. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. I just. Am afraid." Zazzy sighed again. "I don't trust that stupid parasite."

"I understand, I'm worried myself. But I made this happen so I have to fix it." Asonja stated, standing behind her a little bit, putting his hands on the top of her head comfortingly. "I promise I'll try everything I can to win this battle. I'll make sure I'll do this for you, not just myself."

The feline sniffled. "Ok." She said simply. Seeming to wipe a tear from her eye. Zazzy then glanced at the clock. "You need to get going.."

He nodded and gave her another reassuring hug. He ever gave her his first kiss on the head before walking out of her room. "Wish me luck, Zazzy..." He says nervously before fully walking out of the cottage to look at the map he was given and make his way to the forest.

(Chapter 4 ) -A Challenger
He eventually got there, panting a bit. He leaded against a tree to take a quick breather. "I made it...just in time..."

The forest was strangely silent. There was no sounds of rustling leaves of birds singing in the meadow. It was like everything in the forest had been put on mute. Except for the sounds of Asonja's breathing.

His breathing eventually died down as he checked his watch. It beeped noon. "Hmm...still no sign of the grape." He went further into the forest, looking around.

There was a blonde mink standing off in the distance. Most of the view was blocked by some twisted trees.

He narrowed his eyes at the figure and went toward it. He made sure he didn't look intimidating, but he kept his guard up. "Uhh, excuse me? Hello?"

"...I'm not even going to attempt to waist my energy on trying to dupe you." The mink smirked. Turning around to get a better look at Asonja. His eyes were faintly purple. But Predominantly Xan's teal color. "I hope you didn't break any hearts on the way here."

"I probably did...but it'll all be worth it in the end..." Asonja said, sounding a little worried and regretful at the same time. "I don't want her to be saddened at how my life is becoming as of now, so it's for the greater good. Now, get outta that form and let's settle this."

The mink chuckled. "I'd rather not. Thank you. This does count as one person." Xan pointed out, when he snapped his fingers, a little kindling of a flame sparked into his palm.

Asonja got a bit uncomfortable, got into a rather unbalanced, unstable battle formation, and backed up only one step. "Whatever floats your boat. As long as you're sharing."

Xan sputtered suddenly. "I Beg your pardon..?" He asked, doing a double take.

Asonja seemed to smirk a little bit after finding a minor weakpoint. He came up closer, wrapped his arm around the mink and said, "As long as your sharing the body, all is well! After all..." He leaned in closer to him, smirking and saying ominously and quietly, "Sharing is caring".

For a moment a brief look of horror flashed on Xan's face. Before he quickly realized that Asonja had no idea what he was talking about. So he hid his distress with wit. "..And whom better to care for than a young hedgehog who's mouth is bigger than his brain?" Xan said, taking the opportunity of being close to Asonja to get a firm grip on the kid. Zazzy's words flashing into Asonja's mind.."Keep your distance from him.."

Asonja backed up, still keeping his guard up as he listened to those words. "Once I do know, boy won't you be a bundle of joy. Now let's cut the chat and get this battle over with. Hell, I'm even nice enough to let you strike first."

"Do you want to know the difference between bravery and stupidity?" Xan asked, as he clapped his hands together and a spiral of fire rose around him. "..One is celebrated and the other is dead." And with that he hurtled several waves of flaming inferno at Asonja.

He moved left to right, dodging the flames. The last one, he leaned to the side a little bit, smirking. "Oh trust me I know the difference. It's just stubbornness that I own." With that, he sprinted forward, glowing a faint royal purple, and jumped to make a sideways kick to his head.

Xan tipped his head over to the side to avoid certain doom. And snagged Asonja's leg with his arms. Slamming him into the ground. "Tsk, tsk. Someone wasn't thinking.." Xan's voice wavered, his actual voice more predominate than ever.

He growled, mostly in pain, before pushes himself off the ground using his two legs to kick Xan in the chest.

The mink went flying backward. But managed to catch himself before he fell. Touching the ground, Xan set fire to the grass and trees around Asonja.

He grimaced, trying to get to a safe area with no flammable objects. He managed to find a small shallow pond nearby and went there. His clothes were burnt a bit from the fires as well as his eyes were slightly red from the smoke. "Jeez...that wasn't remotely fair. Not for me nor the people who live here..."

"Believe me when I say.. they won't care. " Xan called. His silhouette emerging from the smokey haze of the wildfire he'd started.

Asonja stayed silent, trying to track him down as well as figure out how to get rid of this fire. The heat was evaporating the pond around him at a noticeable speed, also setting those grounds on fire. "Shoot...I didn't do much damage and I'm already losing..." He muttered to himself.

Xan used the smoke as a cloak to sneak up on Asonja. Hands ablaze with fire, he jumped the hedgehog. The minks' burning Hands inches away from Asonja face

Asonja wasn't prepared and turned too slowly. He yelped, and got a faceful of fire. His muffled screams of agony could some what be heard as he tried to pry the mink off him.

The mink ended up kicking Asonja to the side of the grassy meadow. Which was turning more into a forest shish kabob the longer they left the fire alone. "For some reason.. I get the strange feeling. That you weren't exactly prepared for this." Xan said smugly.

Asonja got up, so near in the fires. He was in so much pain, he could not scream anymore. He was starting to bleed a little bit from the rocks, but the wounds fixed themselves along with some burn marks. "You're right...I wasn't..." he panted, and coughed. His body began to glow a brighter purple.

"Do me a favor. And stop trying." Xan asserted. Twirling a little ball of fire in his hands. The mink's shirt was somewhat torn. And a few bruises seemed to be forming underneath. But for the most part, the creature seemed intact. "..It would be much easier for you to give up." The mink hummed, as he slowly walked closer to Asonja.

Asonja just stood there, clenching his fists. "If I die, that's where I give up..." He pants, before rushing back to Xan to throw a right-hook punch to the face.

The mink stumbled backward for a moment, spitting up a little bit of yellow blood. "Hehe. Ugh. Disgusting." Xan gurgled, wiping the blood off 'his' muzzle.

Asonja went for another punch, with no specific pattern. Asonja actually was coming up with a pattern, but it was so complex, the author got lazy to write it down.

Xan gritted his teeth and blocked the punch with a swipe of his hand, with the other, he prepared to slam his elbow down onto Asonja's exposed arm joint.

He quickly moved it out of the way, but hurt his hand in the process. He yelped, holding his hand as he couldn't quite make a fist with it as of now. He did a roundhouse kick to Xan's Thyroid, right in the neck.

Bending down backwards to avoid the blow, Asonja's shoe barley scraped across the mink's face as it passed overhead. Sitting up to his full height again, Xan stomped hard on the ground, making an incendiary wave rise from the burning grass.

Asonja couldn't jump over the wave, so he blocks in a stern position and gets blown into the wave. Afterwards, his skin was healing from the burns, but his clothing remained singed badly. "I'm not...done yet..." Though, as he said this, his life energy was depleting quietly.

"Oh? One last 'trick' up your sleeve? Please. Do tell." Xan said, with sarcastic interest. He would have dropped Asonja to the floor. If it weren't for the fact that he actually was mildly curious.

"I'll be experimenting for a moment..." With that said, artificial wind started to swirl around him as royal purple aura started to appear around him like he was on purple fire. The wind around him was getting rid of the fire around of him. He squinted at Xan, growling quietly as his fur was turning purple, as well as his pupils. "...This is going to hurt me a lot...but this is all I've got in mind..." A shockwave was heard, distinguishing flames in a 20 foot radius around him. It basically created a split-second 20 mph gale.

The mink gasped for breath. Startled by the sudden wave of air. Recognizing his error, Xan quickly moved in to finish Asonja off before anything else could be done.

Suddenly, Asonja turned into a blur, right behind Xan, only to spin-kick him in the side, shooting him off into a few trees meters away. "Now, I'm getting serious...!" he shouts, his voice a little distorted as another shockwave was sent out, bigger than the last.

Xan made no evident groan, though pain was clear on the mink's scratched up face. "That makes two of us." He replied through gritted teeth, Flipping off his back and landing on his feet. Using his fire as a jet propulsion under his own body, Xan hurtled at Asonja at alarming speeds. Nailing him in the gut, and slamming him into a nearby tree.

He tried to skid to a halt, but the impact with the tree stopped him and paralyzed him a bit. He coughs, lands back on his feet and jumped back at him. His glow intensified as he jumped forward, and does another right-hook to the side of his head, sending him flying a little bit further than before. He made contact with some trees that slowed him down, and they fell into the flames to turn into charcoal. Asonja stops himself on another treetrunk, only to jump off into the flames that vanished once he made contact with them around a 1 foot radius.

The flames lapped at the mink's simple cloths. But seemed to avoid touching his fur. Wincing, Xan's hand trembled as a weird blade poke out of the surface of the skin. In one big bloody mess, A blade was grown out from the minks arm. Seeming quite menacing with its dark purple glint. "Up until now..." Xan growled, Getting up off the tree. "I was concerned I'd damage the goods. Now? Heh.." Xan chuckled. Breaking into a dark, and ominous laugh. "..Now I think I can deal with a bruised trophy." He smiled darkly. Pain seemed to dull his eyes.

In freakish speeds, Xan bolted to the tree stump on which Asonja sat. And instead of a direct assault, he sailed right over Asonja's head. Landing behind him and taking a jab at the hedgehog's stomach.

Asonja staggered back, coughing up some blood as his aura seemed to shimmer a bit from impact. A loud glitch noise seemed to occur during that as he regained his balance with a bit of blood going down his mouth. He growled and spun around to kick Xan, but before impact, he vanished. Completely.

He Flinched from the near hit, before immediately looking around for where he had gone to. ''I've given him too much time.. ''Closing his eyes, Xan concentrated on zeroing in on the mark he'd given Asonja. Not only could he then sense where The hedgehog had gone, but he also broadcasted an awful, head splitting sound.

With that given out, he heard a cringy shout from afar, about a few yards behind him, but yet he still wasn't visible. Perhaps the trees blocked the view?

Thrusting his hand out, fire cracked through the trees, burning the leaves here and there. "You can HIIIDE. As long as you are marked, we will remain linked!"

Once the trees vanished, he still wasn't there. Suddenly, a shadow appeared over the mink, as a spinning ball of black came crashing down toward him, with royal purple fire trailing behind. "METEOR CRASH!" Asonja shouted, as he thrusts out his right leg at the right moment to make impact on the head of the mink. The impact was so hard, it make a rather large crater with the radius of about 10 feet.