(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. Anthe 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 a-rte-empty-lines-before="1" data-rte-fromparser="true">"...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
=This chapter directly bridges from a certain roleplay that Silver and Silva did.= 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.

The impact was so hard, Xan literately lost motor control of the body. Leaving the mink's body to fall limp the the ground. With some heavy bleeding occurring from the temples and back of head. The eyes were blank white, and though he was still breathing, life seemed to be lacking in his body.

Asonja was slightly dizzy from it, which made him stumbled and fall into the crater next to him. He groaned and eventually got up. "So..." Asonja placed a burnt shoe on his back. "You give up yet, Xan?"

The limp body said nothing. Scars and bruises were scattered throughout the mobian's body. Suddenly, the body convulsed under Asonja's shoe. A hauntingly familiar plume of goo oozed out of the mink's body. Which quickly wrapped around Asonja's leg.

Asonja jumped a bit, and tried to shake the goo off. "AH CRAP, CRAP CRAP!" Asonja climbed out of the crater, kicking at the goo with his other foot at the edge of the crater.

The purple-ish goo was like superglue. Refusing to come off for anything. The only progress Asonja was making was allowing time for Xan to 'think'. The gleaming creature sludge snapped Asonja's legs together, and wrapped around them before trying to advance to Asonja's head.

Asonja climbed up from the crater, struggling to get out from the grip. Seeming to get nowhere, he just grimaces with massive amounts of fear, waiting for the pain to arrive.

Sure enough, Xan rammed into Asonja's head. And everything went black.

..Untill Asonja was snapped awake by a certain parasite. Everything was hazy, and a terrible ringing noise resounded inside Asonja's head.

Asonja drooped a bit. He couldn't quite tell where he was, and he saw the purple figure that was the parasite. "Shoot...you got me that time..."

Xan clapped slowly. "Good detective work, Sherlock." He commented sarcastically. "What a show! You murdered a mobian in cold blood. And a bit of mine as well." That last part had a hinting growl. "We'll make a villain out of you yet."

"Well, you were sharing that body to begin with...it was necessary to get your cowardly-self outta there." Asonja smirked tiredly, coughing a little bit afterwards. "Besides...even if you managed to catch up to me that time...I won't let that happen again."

"...IF it were ever happen again. But unfortunately.." Xan trailed off, in one quick swipe he had locked one of his hands onto Asonja's throat. "..The chances of you getting out of this.. is very. very slim." He whispered. Giving Asonja's throat a light squeeze.

Asonja chocked slightly, groaning a bit. He narrowed his right eye, his left eye being closed. "We'll see about that..." He whispered just as much, but with a slight aggressive tone to it.

"We certainly will. Won't we?" Xan replied ominously. Cocking his head slightly as he seemed to be focused on something else. Asonja could feel a weird ticking sensation in the back of his mind. Xan is reading his memories. After a few brief moments, the parasite simply dropped Asonja to the floor. The ground morphing into clean white tiles. The murky darkness of the psyche turned pristine white. "Under normal circumstances I would have simply dropped you into Salim.." Xan remarked. "But you are not a normal circumstance. Are you?" He asked. Daring not to stoop down to Asonja's level. Rather, he towered over the hedgehog.

Asonja shook a bit, slowly getting up on his feet. It was painfully slow, though, as he was trembling and looking at the white tile. He said nothing, his head down and away from the parasite. As he stood fully on his feet, his hands clenched into fists, though he remained calm, except he held back a lot of tears and anger to remain the same. "No...I'm not...I'm not a normal circumstance, nor am I normal in general..." His arms trembled up to his chest as he grabbed his upper arms, clenching them so tightly, his pale knuckles were a bright white. "...Nevermind that...where are we now...?"

"We could be everywhere. And no where. All at once." Xan sang in a sing-song manor. "Now tell me dear boy. Do you think you are worthy of..her?" The parasite asked. With a snap of his figures a very life like version of Zazzy appeared. "It seems you have affections for her." He spectated mischievously. His eyes flashing to see what Asonja would do.

Asonja flinched a bit, seeming to grip his arms tighter. The two of them would feel Asonja's skip of a heartbeat in shock. "...Don't you dare think of anything rash..." He grumbled, his right eye flinching a bit.

"Oh I can't make any-...Wait." Xan suddenly froze in his tracks. "What is she..." He was cut off, and actually faded away as someone's voice echoed in the distance. "...onja. Asonja..ASONJA." Asonja was shook awake by Zazzy. Who was crouched over him, worry clouding her eyes. Beside him was some weird jar.. er. Vase thing that seemed to have something contained inside it.

Asonja panted, his heart racing once seeing her. "Z-..Za-Zazzy?!" Asonja got up on his legs, but was in so much pain he fell back down. He looked at the vase. "W-...what did you do?"

Zazzy rested a hand on his chest to keep him from sitting up again. "I got that little bugger and shoved him in this." She said pointing to the vase. "It looks feeble but trust me. I'll hold pretty much anything."

"That's amazing...thanks Zazzy." He says tightly, before coughing out a bit of blood. When she touched his chest, he was so hot on the inside, his skin was red and almost steaming. "I probably would've died if you haven't saved me...I'm sorry for dragging you into this mess to begin with."

"You should be." The feline said quietly. Her eyes hardening into an icy glare. "You think that you could have pulled that off? ....Hah..Pathetic." Zazzy growled. Quickly, her arm retreated from Asonja. Like he was riddled with a terrible disease. Disgust was creeping onto her face.

"Z-...zazzy?" Asonja crouched up a bit. "What's wrong...? I know this is my fault but...I don't need the negativity..."

"You're so very right. Do you know how hard it is to deal with you.. Day in and day out?" She asked rhetorically. Standing up to her feet. "You're just a huge burden for me to carry around. Constantly running from your problems and hiding away from them like a child." Zazzy jabbed. Pointing an accusing finger at Asonja. "And then you suddenly think that charging into battle would prove you worthy? Pffft..." She snorted. The power blue sky was quickly souring into a dark green. Leaves swirled around as the wind began to pick up.

Asonja narrowed his eyes at her before standing up completely, coughing a bit more blood doing so. "Well...I may not be worthy of fighting...but I can tell that you're not Zazzy."

"Or am I? You have these fears lurking around inside you. What will little miss Zazzy think of you when she knows the true coward that you are?" Zazzy smirked. With a motion of her hand everything.. Including herself, melted away. Into pitch darkness. There was the occasional unintelligible whisper that would echo around. But, there was mostly just silence.

Asonja growled and looked around in the darkness, trying to figure out where everything was. He tried to find the vase, but his brain couldn't give him the motor controls necessary to stay balanced for long, so he collapses and coughs up more blood from his internal damage.

Suddenly, Asonja was being spun around in a raging cyclone of wind. Round and round it went, but never seemed to stop. The pitch blackness seemed to be forming into something else. But it was hard to focus when your stomach was down to your toes.

Asonja just grimaced and went along with it, groaning a bit from the g-force and the pain of his innards.

When the hedgehog finally touched down. He landed back into his old apartment. Still littered with trash and random junk everywhere. The lighting was so dim, to see he would need to turn the lights on.

Asonja struggled to get up, using the table near him to do so, and to turn on the light. "Man, I thought Zazzy and I cleaned this up..." he muttered to himself.

There was suddenly a knocking at the door. Heavy footsteps sounded from just beyond the thin drywall.

He limped to the door and opened it a little bit. "Uhh, yeah?"

At the door was several Egg gunners standing at the base of his door post. They loaded their guns with bullets before cocking them. You know what happens next.

Asonja jumped back, leaving the door open to scuttle away as fast as he could.

Marching in single file, they began to fire at the hedgehog. Standing a few paces away from the door. Bullets were flying everywhere.

Aonja, somehow taking some bullet hits, broke the window and climbed onto the emergency exit staircase 20 floors above. He began to climb very quickly, but off the edge floor by floor. His bullet wounds weren't healing, as they shoot be for realistic purposes. Though, Asonja felt this was off because his core should be healing him, but he had no time to ask himself.

The world was turning black and white the higher he went up. A strange gurgling sound could be heard from down the stairs.

Asonja had stopped, nearing the roof a little bit to see what was making the gurgling sounds.

Down below was this black, swirling liquid. That was thick as blood, and quick like a rising flood. The blackness was quickly swelling, submerging everything a few flights below Asonja. it was gaining. With in the thick liquid came another gurgle, but this time. To Asonja's horror. It was the choked wail of a.. a person.

"W-what the?!" Asonja stayed where he was, of course climbing over the railing to get a sturdy footing, and tried to locate the said choking of a person. Though...he was beginning to think that it was a trap, but he had to make sure. "Hello?! Someone choking in there?!"

At first, there was only silence. But then, a face, covered in black film. Emerged for a moment, gasping. The person then hauled up another body from the dark pools. "Heelp.." The person gurgled. The voice sounded like it belonged to a woman. "Son. Don't leave me he-" Her half-choked cry was drowned out by the sudden sounds of explosions coming from a door nearby. It had yet to be touched by the black liquid. From behind the glass, more robots could be seen.

Asonja gasped a bit behind him and then to the bodies. "I-I'm sorry but I got something rough on my hands I can't run and save you!" He was going in a situational crisis. He struggled on what to do: run, save the people in the black liquid resembling oil, or somehow do both.

With one hefty kick, An Egg Guardian busted down the fragile door. And smashed through the wall to fit it's hefty robo frame into the stairway. '''"T A R G E T    L O C A T E D." '''Its pixely voice declared. The sounds of a familliar laugh echoed around the room. 'Ho Ho Ho Ho! I've got you now, rodent!' the oil substance was rising quickly, forcing them to move up the stairs, or die there in the process.

Asonja sighed hopelessly and began climbing up the stairs quickly before going off the edge to the bars again, and climbed there.

A huge severed Robo arm went hurtling past Asonja. Apparently the robot had fired one of its arms at him. The woman was gone in one big oily burp. The stairs seemed to stretch out endlessly from under Asonja's feet. The stairs spiraled into the ceiling. And a Simple door hung on that ceiling for some reason. This odd frame of wood was about 2 flights away from Asonja. Even though he could see it as clear as day from where he stood.

Asonja just got more and more confused on what was happening. He went to the strangely-placed door, and began to open it.

Inside was a long hallway. With a whole lot more doors. Unholy shrieking was coming from the sludge as it sped up. It looked like it contained forms of people. Friends even. Petrified in the black liquid.

He looked behind him to see this and rushed into the hallway, closing the door as well. He was panting, coughing blood, and bleeding from previous bullet wounds. "What's...happening...?!"

The blood floated off his hand, and drifted upward. It seems that gravity was a little wonky here.

He let go of the door, seeming to fall onto the ceiling with a loud thump and a groan. He stood up and looked up as well. "This...is too creepy..."

His voice simply echoed through the hall. The door he came through, vanished. Where ever he was now. Someone was keeping an eye on him.

He kept quiet, walking on the ceiling of the hallway, distrusting the doors he had to take. Though, his walk was more like a limp, since he was tired, and injured.

 'Whats it like...?'  A voice whispered.  '..To be living?' The doors all creaked as if to reply. The hallway's end was a good 10 feet away. The room's appearance was becoming easier to see. As color began to strangely return to Asonja's vision.

Asonja was still quiet, questioning in his mind who was talking. He went to the end of the hallway, trying to wrap his mind around this.

The gravity shifted around, and Asonja fell like a feather to the actual carpeted floor bellow. The whole room was various shades of purple. Dark purple doors, grape walls and Pastel purples on the very detailed rugs. It looked like there was a scene going on on the rug's pattern.

Asonja groaned in absolute confusion, as he could've sworn the colors were not this purple previously. He did like the color, but it just made him painfully confused. He looked around to search for clues or something to do.

Of all the doors, only one of them was cracked slightly. It seemed to have been under years of abuse. Worn out of its glossy coat and previously glorious purple complexion.

This one, curiously, caught his eye and he reached for it. He grabbed the handle slowly and lightly, as he pushed it open carefully.

As it creaked open, he realized that it was a scene. Like a memory projection of sorts. Except. This one hadn't happened yet. There was a pile of people stacked on top of each other. Upon the crown of this mountain sat a familiar mobian. With his back to Asonja.

He narrowed his eyes a little bit and crept closer, quietly and slowly.

The mobian's ear twitched, as his head turned around. It revealed.. Asonja's face?

The actual Asonja stopped dead in his tracks, his heart completely stopping. "W-...W-what...?! N-nono that can't...be right..." He muttered the rest of the sentence, backing away.

The other Asonja stood up to his feet, hopping down from the pile gracefully. This version of himself was more muscular, with the occasional shifting of nanites here and there. But the real noticeable change however, was the fact that his grey eyes, were shining teal.

Asonja backed away, his feet shuffling behind him. "No...that's not right...!"

"Its veeery right." The hedgehog replied. "You have no idea how powerful we are. Its.. Amazing. " The other Asonja remarked. Clenching his fists together, his nanites shifted around in a display of a complex pattern set.

The actual Asonja stepped back more, his heart pounding more and more, faster and faster at what he must've been becoming. "No! It's not!" He shouts, trying to get some footing. Though he disagrees with the power, but deep down inside he actually craved it. He was a megalomaniac on the inside.

The other Asonja grinned a wide, toothy smile. "No one can touch us. We're invincible now. Don't you get it..?" He drifted off a moment. Sighing a small cloud of nanite dust. "We are practically a god. Just think of one time in your life when you've wished for power!" The dark hedgehog pointed a finger at his mirror self. "You could have saved them."

He shook, first from absolute shock. He stepped back a few times, blinking away a few tears to get himself a tighter grip on this. "I wanted to...but I couldn't, no matter what I did! You saw what happened for yourself. You tried to get the revenge, but it didn't work! What makes you think it'll work now and ever?! These types of things are best forgotten!"

"It is the memory that makes us stronger. Just look.." Asonja pointed. The pile of people became more clear. It wasn't people At all. Rather, it was heaps of machines. The dark Asonja sauntered over to the pile and plucked from it a round man. In which the hedgehog promptly dragged up infront of Asonja, and dumped the man before his feet. What ever happened to that old man, he was.. gone. Beaten, bruised, and pale. "I can't change the past. But look At what will become of the future!" Dark Asonja declared. raising his arms to gesture all around him.

Asonja looked...sort of disgusted for a moment as he stepped back one. This made him speechless, as he was afraid that what he would say would mean that the Dark version of himself was right the whole time. So he looked down and away, thinking very hard on what to say.

The other simply kicked the body to the side, like one would kick a can across the road. "..Parasites are the key to this unfathomable potential." The other Asonja crooned. Seeming content with the current situation he'd caused. "Just think about it.." He whispered.

He grimaced and backed up from the other hedgehog. "No...I don't want to. This is too far than what I desire...It's...too far..." He looked like he was hesitating to say more. "I don't want to overuse it to the point where...I'd hurt my friends...or even people I consider my family. I don't need that kind of power..."

"But you want it." Dark Asonja hissed to himself. Sending chills down his counterpart's spine. "Its why I am what I am. Because its what you've wanted. Justice. He can give you that."

"Xan just wants it for himself!" The counterpart shouts. "Don't think I'm stupid enough to know what he's up to! You fell for his trap to get your end of the deal, but now he's keeping his own deal; doing whatever the hell he wants with my own worthless body!"

"HA! You think you have a choice. Thats real cute." The other Asonja almost cooed. "You can either join, or be forced. Its really a matter of dignity in the end run." The Dark Asonja growled with much hostility. Someone was getting bored of its toy.

"Whatever it may be, you're keeping that to yourself. I don't deserve any of this, and it'll be over my cold, dead body in order to get what you want..." He sneered a bit, before turning his back to walk away. "I don't want power, nor ever need it! I'll get it myself..."

"Or will you..?" The Asonja said ominously. His eyes widening as he slowly melted away into the scenery. Dissolving into nothingness. Until there was once again. Only darkness.

He stopped, trying to keep his calm nature by gripping his fists together. "I'm getting real tired of this place...are you done here, Xan?"

There came no witty response. Or even a brief 'no.' But the more Asonja hung around the place, the more he realized something familiar about it. Despite its Consistent dark void. There was whispers again coming from both left and right of Asonja. If he was close enough he could hear random blurbs..  'What is this place?'  one whispered. In the distance another could be heard.. ' Kid needs a hair cut.'

He walked to his right to investigate. Though, his impatience and indecisiveness did not like him, so he constantly went left or right, trying to decide where to do while also being impatient by not going in the same direction for more than 5 seconds.

Suddenly it felt like he'd just walked through a wall of jello. Lined with barb wire that you can pass through. There was this weird feeling sitting in his gut. It balled up in his gut and made him feel quite queasy. Wherever he was. It wasn't good.

Asonja stepped back a bit, not willing to put his life into risk.

He once again stepped through the strange sensation barrier. Except this time it didn't hurt. He then found himself back to the whispering darkness.

"What in the heck do I even do...?" Asonja muttered to himself quietly. He tried to go left, see if anything would change there.

He was suddenly sucked back into the place he began. The endless room of white tile and cream walls. Xan was no where to be found.

"This...is not fair..." Asonja grumbled as he went back to the right, into that sensation barrier. "What was the saying that the cool kids say... Yewlo? Yellow? Ah screw it." He says this as he tried to go through the barbed wire.

There was some resistance, but he got through again. When he stepped through, he found himself in a neat and orderly room. With a few tall book cases set up, and a couple of hallways that joined into it. The room didn't appear to belong to a 'wealthy' man. But it was nice.

He looked around, not seeming to change emotion. He looked around, walking slowly and cautiously around the room. He was silent, but his footsteps and painful grunts weren't. His adrenaline had faded, and was now continuing the feel the pain of the wounds he had gotten previously.

Both hallways lacked lighting of any sort. The peculiar bookshelfs contained various shapes and sizes of leather bound volumes. On one of the shelves, to the left, there was something odd about the books. The Spines of the books were not labeled with words, but faces. Dozens and dozens of faces.

"What...in the...?" Asonja went closer to the bookshelves to investigate the faces on the spines. "What kind of place is this...?"

Random faces of mobians showed up along the spines. Sometimes even the occasional human. Whenever Asonja got close to one of the books, it shimmered a bit.

He examined each of the book's spines, wondering if he could see someone familiar. But soon he got too creeped out and turned away. "I'm not doing that anymore...I gotta find my way back into my apartment and just wished none of this madness happened."

Suddenly, Asonja felt eyes watching him. Very closely. The floor underneath him parted, forcing him to fall down a very long pipe. Which promptly dumped him somewhere new.

Asonja fell on his back, coughing in pain. "Oww...I would like a warning first!" He shouts before rolling to his side and coughing.

Something from behind picked up Asonja by the scruff of his neck. "..I think you might be part roach. No matter how many times I stomp on you, you continue to squirm."

He choked a little bit, trying to pry himself away. "It's part of living...it honestly sucks but, hey, gotta do what you gotta do to survive..."

Asonja was turned around promptly so Xan could see the face of his intruder. The parasite seemed to read him like a book. The serious lines creasing his face slowly turned into a grin. "..You have no idea where you are." He chuckled in disbelief. "How can you be so smart, yet so dumb?"

He just shrugs. "I just love being a smarty-pants. And besides, if you're wanting to share my body for your own doings, you're going to be bombarded with self-hate and immense amounts of doubt it'll break your own spine. Only I'm powerful enough for that."

"Idiot. It doesn't effect me. Unless I need to pull something from your useless brain." Xan rolled his eyes. "However, that is highly unlikely. So! You were amusing for a time. But now all you are is a thorn in my side. I DO believe its time you go.."

"Good. I'd like to get out of here so I could wipe you from my worthless brain..." Asonja sneered a bit.

"I'm beginning to think you don't like me.." Xan pouted. Raising Asonja up a little bit more. "The feeling is mutual." He growled. Before shoving his hand into Asonja's gut and yanking out a bunch of random internals in one fell swoop. There was a loud sputtering, followed by darkness. The pain was immense.

And yet. He was not gone. When he opened his eyes again, he was sitting on clean white tiles. His body whole, like nothing ever happened.

He had gotten up, completely nauseous from what happened. He stumbled backwards, hitting a wall hard on the back of the head. "God...argh...that's the last time I'm making a remark like that...it's like I've been given an extra life with this stupid game..." He laid his head back a bit, closing his eyes for a moment to take a break. The pain was too much for him for a while.

' ' Honestly, you were in luxury and you bite the hand that eats you. Tsk tsk..~ Xan's voice echoed through the tiles. It was becoming more clear. That Asonja was resting on the glassy surface of a mirror. ' 'Since you've surpassed my basic defenses. You have been sent into a mirror maze.

He looked around and his ears flopped down. "Ah...crap-baskets." Mirror Mazes were actually, surprisingly, one of Asonja's weaknesses; looking at himself in the mirror wherever he went.

His shirt had no evidence of the previous.. incident. His scars were missing as well. Mirrors were everywhere. From the floors, to the walls, then the ceiling. Constantly reflecting, constantly misdirecting. Who knows how big this maze actually is?

Whatever where he was he sits down and leans against a mirror, sighing. He knew he wasn't able to get out, and just refused to try. He did take note of the vision he had and his current appearance, though, he just didn't seem to care anymore. He was done being messed with, and was just ready to get out.

He grumbled after a few minutes, as if wondering why Xan was having so much fun watching a worthless, spineless hedgehog go through mirrors trying to find his way out. He just wanted to starve or just find his own way out.

 'I have better things to attend to than watch you flail around like a fish on land.' Xan said through the nearest mirror. Seeming to hear Asonja's thoughts. His reflection showed up briefly in the glass, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Probably just as useless as one. Why bother escaping?" Asonja shrugged, shaking his head a bit. "Obviously there are much better things than me doing this. Perhaps there could be something else in mind for you to be entertained by my useless self?"

Xan grinned.' "Thats the idea. You aren't entertainment, you're the child that needs a sitter. Since you're new to this, you probably can't feel it. But I am currently TRYING to get out of the Everglyn forest." 'He hinted.

Asonja just continued to sit there, still not seeming to get the thought. "Right...I don't need a babysitter, let alone one that is a parasite. But, who am I to judge."

The Xan in the mirror face palmed. "...You. Moron. Ugh, I am wasting brain power on the likes of you." He sighed. Fading away from the mirror. Its no fun toying with prey when its dead.

He rolled his eyes, gets up and decides to take a walk around the place. He doesn't care if he walked back to the same place, but he wanted to kill some time going in random directions, feeling the wall mirrors to make sure he was turning corners.

The mirrors suddenly lurched. Flipping over one side, before remaining still once more.

Asonja got slightly confused at what happened, but continued on. "Jeez...what a mad house this is..."

"Why so surprised? This is after all, YOUR personification of reality." Said one of the mirrors.

"My personification?" Asonja asked, still keeping a straight face. "You think I'm a Narcissist?"

"Total opposite, kiddo. Your one heck of a jealous mess. Sprinkled with social anxiety." A closer mirror said, taking the appearance of Jules. "You keep comparing 'yer self to other youngins. So. What better place to put you than a prison you invented?"

He smashed that mirror, time seeming to slow once the shards sparkled in every direction and landing on other mirrors, masking their presence. His hand showered some bits of blood on his face and clothing. Looks like Xan has found the perfect weak-point with his words.

"Oh you can run, but you can't hide." The distorted mirrors echoed in unison. The walls once again flipping over on the next side, like clock work.

Asonja growled, turning a bit purple from his core. He began to run around aimlessly, sometimes smashing mirrors as he cut corners.

The fragments halted in mid-air, and slowly was sucked back into its frames. Piecing themselves back into mirrors. "Who are you comparing yourself to now? New faces every day.. So much to envy."

Asonja growled again in response, grumbling a "shut up" from his gritted teeth.

The mirror in front of him violently flashed faces, before stopping on his own reflection.

He stopped to examine it for a moment, glaring at it. His eyes seemed to shimmer a purple flame before vanishing when he cracked it with his fist. "Get me out of here, I'm sick and tired of this..."

"Haha. Oh how a little time to think can change one's entire perspective..~" The mirror responded back. His eyes gleaming teal.

He glared back, keeping his fist on the cracked mirror. "You're all bark and no bite, sir...I'd like to see some REAL damage if all you're doing is keeping me here for your entertainment."

The reflection suddenly grinned. "Oh, believe me when I say. Damage has been done.." The mirrors all flashed a brilliant display of light, temporarily blinding Asonja.

He groaned in pain, rubbing his eyes. "Gargh...! Afterimage...!"

When he opened his eyes, the mirrors has all merged into one big window of some sort. The view from out that glass clooked weird. It was as if he was viewing the world in a 1st person shooter perspective.

He rubbed his right eye, looking out the window with his left eye. "What the...?"

The person was currently strutting down the sidewalk of some sort of city. Packed with mobians and humans.

Asonja got closer to this 'window' to get a better look. Although, he was a bit too small to see much detail. He wondered who this person was.

The person haulted. In the middle of what seemed to be a city plaza. With a flick of his wrists, sand dribbled out of the man's hands to form a lazer cannon. In which he used to promptly mow down several civilians.

"Wait a minute..." Asonja muttered, before jumping back and falling to his knees. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" He shouts, his eyes flaring purple, also with a few tears deciding to flow.

The massacer continued. It seemed like he was simply doing this to spite Asonja. And spit on his name.

He growled at this, despite him not being around in the world anyway. "I have to think of something...and fast. Before he does too much. Now, what can I do..." Asonja got up to think, wiping the tears away from his face. "Perhaps I could cause a distraction...perhaps damage the temporal lobes to cause constant ringing in the ears from the tiny hairs malfunctioning. That'll tick anybody off..." He walked around, and measured where the ears would be inside this little area. Then, he punches that calculated area as hard as he could, as well as doing it again directly in the opposite direction.

The man flinched on the screen. He paused for the moment, seeming dead still. The ringing was not only in Xan's mind, but Asonja's. Clenching the head only made things worse. Sure enough, Xan materialized into the mirror maze, and immediately slapped Asonja across the face. "Heh. Clever."

Asonja winced at his own ringing, not just the slap, and at this moment he dashed at him and went for Xan's throat. Though, strangely, Xan would notice a slight red tint in Asonja's dark-grey eyes, as well as a hidden sinister, crooked smirk

Xan clenched Asonja's arms and bent them a way they should not be bended. "Now, why do I get the feeling that was on purpose?"

Asonja grimaced a bit, not understanding why he suddenly had no chance against Xan. He tried so hard not to sound completely damaged as he said, "Well...based on what I've seen, you seem to be sharing a burden that I wished to do a long time ago...so I wanted to thank you personally..." His image seemed to flicker between red and purple, like his own body had its own darker secrets.

"Mm. Unlike you, I happen to be using power given." He smirked. Flipping Asonja down to his knees. Chains surfaced from the ground, and held the hedgehog fast to the floor.

He struggled against them, growling quietly as well. "As long as we're sharing bodies...We share the same thoughts, actions, and nervous system...meaning...I'm willing to damage you and myself just to get you out of this filth..."

"...." Xan tightened the restraints. "Amazing. Somehow your own depression hasn't consumed you. But hasn't left you either. You're like in a permanent state of limbo.." He muttered. "If you killed yourself, you wouldn't kill me. I'm simply here for the ride." The parasite stated, matter-of-factually.

He continued to struggle even though they were tiny movements. "I just can't decide who I want to be. I'm one guy one day, and then I'm another the next day. It just mixes."

"Ugh, please be quiet. All you ever seem to do is vomit insecurity.. hn." Xan suddenly paused in the middle of his jab. His head tipping to the side a bit. The screen next to the two flickered with movement. It looks like authorities were arriving to take down the idle Asonja/Xan body.

Asonja winced a bit too as he could feel it. He began to glow purple as his Identity defense mechanism was activating. Bright electricity bolts started cracking around his body as he created a shockwave pulse that would push away the heaviest of men going against him.

Xan twitched. Having to close his eyes for a moment and take in a few deep breaths to steady himself. "..." The screen of course showed men flying everywhere. The ground of the plaza cracked and nearby buildings were damaged. Their pretty glass windows were blew out by the force of the blast.

Asonja panted, seeming to have cracked the restraints a little bit. "Shoot...that wasn't the best idea..." He muttered.

"Oh really? What ever could have tipped you off on that?" Xan said sarcastically. Regaining his composure. "I'm starting to think you like harming the innocents." He grinned.

"...I used to." He grumbled. "I hate to admit it, but I did once try to commit genocide on innocents. I hated the thought. They didn't deserve death. They didn't do anything...but scold me..." He grumbled the last part to himself.

"PFFFFT. What? No spankings? No time out corner? They really let you off the hook.." Xan mocked.

"Up yours." Asonja lashed back. "Knowing you, you're bound to give me a lecture of a lifetime just for not agreeing with you, like the mother-in-law I never asked for."

The parasite grinned, and yanked one of the chains on Asonja down hard. "Now, now. Is that anyway to speak to your elders~" He impersonated a stereotypical old woman's voice.

Asonja grimaced a bit, the pressure making a loud cracking noise after doing so. He was trying so hard not to scream. He was also struggling to get out more and more, not seeming to find anyway out.

Xan twitched again. Whipping his head around to stare blankly at nothing. The screen also twirled around, and seemed to focus in on some sort of angered power mobian. "Nichet." Xan swore under his breath.

(Like. Can you imagine how weird this looks to everyone on the outside? Theres just some random mobian standing around blankly. NOt moving, or blinking. Then just randomly energy bursting?) (Yeah, I can imagine that. Dunno how to get it it to make sense. It's awkward)

"Look, I can take care of that..." Asonja looked while he was still strapped the ground. "Just let me out of here so I can take care of this guy...I'll do anything you ask just to take control of my body again..."

"Oh really? Be my guest.." Xan faded. Asonja was quickly shoved back into control. The sensation quite like jumping into a pool of cold water. It was just in time to get punched right in the face. "Ayee! You think its cool to just go about, wrecking the city? You wrecked my shop!" The mobian growled.

He rubbed his cheek, his eyes fading from a teal to a regular dark gray. "I'm sorry sir, alright? I was mad and something exploded from me. Look, I don't want any trouble..."

"Suuuuuure. Y'know. You gotta lot of nerve to be lying to my face, punk!" The man hissed. Other towns folk was starting to peek out from their hiding places.

"Please, sir, I don't deserve any of these harsh comments, it was an accident..."

The man paused a moment. Then sighed. "Look. Kid. What about the damages?" He asked, gesturing around to the broken windows and shops surrounding the area.

"That, can be arranged." Asonja walked up to the middle of the street. He brought out his arms, and took a deep breath. Suddenly, the glass shards and debris started to vibrate and move back into their respective places, like time was going in reverse. He glowed purple, entirely focused on his inner core and manipulating the objects.

"...Eh?!" The townsman exclaimed. "Kid, Did you just get your powers er. Something like that?"

"I've had them for a while..." Asonja responded. "I just...never bothered to use them. I've never stepped outside my apartment down 5th Street for...years. A decade, about..."

The guy scratched his head. "You better get outta here before the authorities arrive. I'll.. I'll cover for ya."

Asonja looked shocked for a moment, the debris and glass shards falling a bit before picking them back up. "...Y-you're joking...are you? I mean...I wrecked your stuff and...now you decide to cover for me from the law? That's absurd..."

The dude nudged Asonja along. "I 'ad an accident similar to yours when I was a boy. Call this a.. Lucky pass." The man said sheepishly.

"...Uh, I guess...? Thank you..." He said nervously once he had fixed most of the damage. Once the sirens were in sight, Asonja stood there for a moment thinking this was a bad idea to run from the authorities, but he ran away anyway, not looking back.

"I gotta find Zazzy...I need comfort...I can't handle this!" He gripped his head in frustration and he continued to run.

' 'Pfft. You need moral life support. Xan echoed. ' 'Ah. Was I not allowed to talk? I apologize, I'll leave you to your brooding. I'll busy myself with something.. else' 'The parasite said in an annoyingly sugary manner. Somehow the thought of leaving the guy to his own devices scared Asonja. Who was bolting out of the city's outskirts.

Not knowing exactly what to do in a time of crisis, he still continued to run. He didn't care if anything happene to him mentally or physically; all he had in mind was running. It was the only thing he was 'made' to do.

Asonja was already pretty far out from the city now. But the landmarks were pretty unfamiliar.

He eventually slowed to a stop, panting with a fiery breath. He looked around, the unfamiliar landscape making him more worried. "Shoot...I think I'm lost...Nonono, there's gotta be a way to get a better view! Come on where's that cottage?!" He jumped up a few branches and onto the top of a sturdy tree to find a better view.

Off in the distance, the familiar shape of Central City's horizon shined.

He didn't like cities all that much, but his curiosity for finding another place to find a better view. So he decided to go take a look there.

There was a soft plume of smoke billowing up from a house in the distant outskirts of the city. Looks like Asonja was in familiar territory now.

He felt his heart skip several beats looking at it, always assuming the worst. He stopped for a moment to study the smoke, before sprinting again to the location. "Please...please don't let it be..."

Outside Zazzy's house there was a large pile of sticks that had been set ablaze. Zazzy was sitting at the helm, clutching a singed carpet piece. She Occasionally fanning the fire, and letting the smoke rise into the air.

"Zazzy!" Asonja called, as he felt a huge wave of relief and ran over to her.

The cat's head whirled around. "Sonj? oh! Asonja!!" She cried. Hopping up and giving Asonja a big hug.

"Oh thank god..." Asonja hugged back. "I thought that I was gonna die and then I saw your house on fire and AHHH I'm too stressed!" He gripped his head a little bit.

"What happened? Are you ok? Why do you smell like fire? Or am I smelling the fire next to me? Have you eaten?" She jabbered. Pulling away from the hug.

' 'Good gracious this is like a 80's drama series. I swear to the Queen if you start kissing I will kill you both.' 'Xan echoed.

When we do, I'll make sure you vomit. Asonja thought with a tough tone in his voice in his head. Now that he was with Zazzy, he had more confidence. "I'm fine, Zazzy. I'm just glad I made it here in one piece."

Asonja could practically feel Xan shudder in disgust.

"Me too! But.. did it work?" Zazzy asked with apprehension.

' 'Oh yes. It worked quite spectacularly. Xan commented. Sarcastic applause could be heard in Asonja's mind.

Asonja lightly smacked himself in the head to stop it, as well as shake Xan in his head. "It's kinda hard to explain at this point...perhaps we'll talk about it during dinner?"

Asonja felt a sharp pang in his head. Like the beginnings of a bad migraine. Looks like Xan had a comeback.

"SURE! I have hotdogs we can cook, OOO, and S'mores! I'll go get the stuff real quick." She purred, bolting indoors to get the food stuffs.

Asonja growled and took a rock and beat himself over the head with it, shedding blood. "You wanna go?!"

 '...It was very similar act of idiocy that got you in this mess to begin with.' Xan replied smugly. ' 'I can pull the plug on you at any moment.. A puppet may think he can move, but the audience knows there are strings.' '

Zazzy popped out of her house suddenly with a package of hotdogs and a few fixings. "Here we go.. I've got the-.. Wait. 'Sonj. What happened?!"

Asonja brought the rock down, covering his wound with his hand. He had a really angered look on his face, but not because of her. "It's nothing...Like I said, I was going to talk it over with you during dinner..."

''This 'audience' wants a show, don't they? It wouldn't be a show if the main character dies prematurely, so I suggest you must be patient, rodent. ''Asonja warned in his head.

Out of spite, Xan caused another headache spike.

"Um. no....no. Sonj you need to tell me now. " Zazzy said, seriousness edging in her tone. Setting down the food in the grass, she walked over to look over Asonja. Brushing away his bangs, she lightly gasped. "Asonja.. um.."

He winced and make a really painful groaning noise. "Yes, Zazzy...I know. You wouldn't believe me if I said this but...he made his way in." ''I'm not regretting anything I said. Give me all you got, now. Make me suffer if you choose, but I am not going down so easily.''

Asonja's eyes were mismatched. One was grey, but the other was teal. A narrow, teal, reptilian eye. Zazzy suddenly turned serious. "Say something only Asonja would say." She somewhat demanded. Tensing up.

 'Challenge accepted.' Asonja suddenly forgot what he was going to say next. The words were on the tip of his tongue but he couldn't remember what exactly they were.

Asonja narrowed both of his eyes, trying to remember. "Uhh...shoot, I forgot..." He groaned a bit, hitting his wound a bit more. "I lost it! Grah! Okay okay, focus...focus...uhm..." He walked away from Zazzy, focusing. "Oh! Uhh, I think I was going to say that you have nice hair. I think that was it, or maybe I just noticed that until now. No, it doesn't feel right..." He paced more, tensing more and more. His head wound bled down his face, making the teal pupil eye look like it was crying his blood.

Zazzy seemed unsure of what to do. It was like deciding whether or not to help the wounded lion. And get bitten later on. "..."

"Ah. I remember now. I was going to say how sickening your fake positivism is. " Asonja's mouth uttered on its own accord.

Zazzy's ears instantly flattened. She seemed sad for a moment, before a fire lit in her eyes. "Xan." She said boldly, clenching her fists.

Asonja covered his mouth for a moment. "Nonono, that wasn't me!" Darn it...I underestimated you a little bit...Time to up the ante.

"HOW AM I SUPPOSTA KNOW?!" She cried. Keeping her distance from Asonja. "You've tricked me before!" Zazzy growled.

' 'Heh. And I could trick you several dozen more times, dearie. Because you're an idiot.' 'Xan's voice snickered.

Asonja gripped his head, trying to concentrate. "I'm serious! I'm the real one! I'm just your average every-day lazy hedgehog, cowering for his life for survival!" He shouts, trying to concentrate even more.

"Or perhaps I'm a dolphin that flies through the wind, sprinkling glitter where ever I go. A Lisa Frank nightmare~" Asonja suddenly proclaimed. Grinning.

"Ok. ENOUGH!" Zazzy swiftly kicked Asonja in the shins, then knocked him to the ground, where she firmly held him down.

"Let me do that for you, dear." Asonja responded. Suddenly slapping himself.

' 'Stop hitting yourself, Asonja! You'll leave a mark~' 'Xan chided.

He growled and stopped his right hand with his left hand. He began concentrating more to the point where he started to glow purple. It strangely didn't hurt Zazzy as she still kept him down. '' 'I've had it with you! This time, I'm going to make sure you won't get a foot-hold!''' He shouts in his brain, as he gripped his head tightly...

Inside Asonja's consciousness, the control center, Xan could suddenly start to see that in some areas, memories started to vanish. They were all the negative memories that made him who he was today, which made him forget his parents and even his own brother.

"Wh-" Xan trailed off, immediately creating a sort of.. 'barrier' to shield himself. "I knew you were stupid, but I never dream you would try something as idiotic as this!" He called, voice snide.

Asonja removed his hands from his head, and the memories just appeared back in. He didn't even realize what he did; he even thought about why he couldn't remember his parents' names. ' ''Huh...weird. I have no idea what you're talking about, but whatever. You won't be in there with me for long.''' Something told Xan that Asonja didn't think of those last words consciously, but someone else did.

"You just.. Shattered your psyche." Xan observed. Asonja's mind was a wreck. It surprised the parasite that the hedgehog could even think at all.

Zazzy was panicking. "What's going on?!"

Asonja was just. Laying there. But his conscious still spoke to Xan. '' 'Even the dumbest of people have the brightest of ideas when all else fails. You became too cocky for your own good. And now? You're losing control. Ever so gradually.'''

Xan snorted. "So. To deal with me. You killed yourself? Pffft. " The parasite clapped. "Boy won't your girl love that one?"

'' 'You're a fool to start back-talking now. If I were dead, I wouldn't be talking to you, with my conscious better yet. Think before you speak, pest. And pay attention.' ''The surroundings with Xan had changed, and he was inside Asonja's childhood home, with a child version of Asonja standing in front of Xan.

"You may have control over me, but I also have control over you." The child said. "It's never one way or the other."

He paused for a moment. Beginning to understand where this was all going. The jovial manor of Xan was dying out, and turning into a more guarded, steely manor. "Well then. I guess I have indeed been bested.." He sighed dramatically. Covering up his tension with more bravado.

The child Asonja crossed his arms, piercing through Xan's own eyes. Suddenly, Xan felt dizzy like his body doesn't remember how to balance correctly. The child smirked, his eyes shining purple. "For instance, I can get rid of your will to balance, breathe, control heart rate and digestion, all at once by pulling information out from your brain. Bit, by, bit."

Xan stumbled around to gain footing. His eyes flashed, for a brief moment, in anger. The spikes running along his back were rising, like a cat's fur would. The room exploded, shattering into a million pieces that went flying everywhere. Wiping is mouth, and regaining his posture. Xan seemed to be intrigued. "Ah. So. It seems the child is a man."

"And it seems the parasite is a bit upset from losing." This voice now turned into an adult female voice, as the child had vanished and turned into a female hedgehog with long black hair with a single french braid in the back. She had purple eyes, a dim glowing purple aura the same color as her eyes, and a sense of strength. She sat down on the table, that seemed highly unaffected. She giggled quietly and lifted her head with her two hands almost seductively, with an additional glare of hatred with that smooth smile.

He arched an eye brow as he studied the woman for a brief moment. "Aah. A guardian. For a moment I was wondering if Asonja was trans." Xan chuckled a bit, returning her stares with an even grin. He began Smoothing his scales down, so he didn't look like a walking porcupine. "I don't see many psyche guardians around anymore. Do tell. Whats it like dealing with this..kid?"

"I have my ways." She giggled, glaring into his eyes. Xan easily felt a heart-skip, despite being calm. "Being a mother is a tad difficult, I will tell you that. But, you being a parasite, jumping from conscious to conscious, breaking one after another...your species do not know the true meaning of fear. The only fear you have is the thought of being overtaken, because you don't follow the rules. And once you step out of line..." She vanished, and appeared behind Xan, her left hand on his left shoulder, and made a striking motion across his neck with her right thumb. Her fingernail was sharp, so it cut a little bit into his throat. "...You're done."

"Ahaha." Xan emphasized the ha's, lacking any real enthusiasm. "But what's the fun in that?" He replied, voice tinged with a growl. Whipping the woman with his tail, before twisting around to shove her away from his body. He then conjured to life a strange looking sword, by using his imagination.

She slid on the hard-wood floor, looking back up at him, still on her feet. "The fun in stepping out of rules, you ask?" Her hands leaked out the same sand-like particles to form black daggers, one in each hand. "You learn from your mistakes and realize how much of an idiot you are!" She dashed toward him, slicing the dagger downward, back-handed, at his chest. She was so quick, he had to blink to notice that he was being attack. Before reacting quick enough, she spun around, grabbed his neck, and threw him to the ground with the dagger inches from his face.

"See what I mean?" She asked, smirking a bit. "Like I said before, you're too cocky for your own good, and it'll get you nowhere. The moment you turn your back on those who taught you everything you needed to know for your own survival, the more you will screw up, and get yourself killed."

Xan rolled his eyes, and proceeded to blast the woman's face off with a beam of energy. Turning the projection of the dead woman into ash. He immediately hopped off the ground and scanned the area for the little runt. The only way to get rid of her was to find Asonja's odd fragmentation. He grunted at the stinging wound, and needed some quite to heal his back up.'' 'This is not a real wound. It is mere imagination' ''He thought repeatedly. Helping Xan's wound slowly disappear.

"And this isn't real either." The familiar child's voice was in the distance, echoing occasionally. "You're no match for me, Xan. You need to know when you give up control for your own survival...no matter how much you struggle to live..." The environment began to change colors, into more of a red-tint. The road, grass, and parts of the floor was covered in dense liquid blood.

Xan narrowed his eyes, unflinching to the horror of his surroundings. He knew Asonja was right. But for some odd reason he was still grinning.. A knowing gleam in his eyes. "Best I leave then.." He said. A terrible searing sensation shot up Asonja's back. Before Xan dejected himself, he was inflicting damage upon Asonja's body. Especially with the nanites, which were short-circuited by the flow of Xan. Everything was leaving in one big wave. Back in reality, Zazzy was tense. She had moved away from Asonja because he was convulsing. In which he promptly vomited up large amounts of sludge. Which was tainted with a mixture of blood, and spit.

"GAGH! GROSS GROSS GROOOOSS!" Zazzy shrieked. She Jumped back away from the nasty puddle, shocking it repeatedly.

"Do.. You. MIND?!" the twitching goop gurgled, quickly taking shape back into Xan's original form. "...People. Honestly. No manors these days.." Xan managed to say. Still a little deformed because everything was working its way into place.

"Uh, YEAH. I KINDA DO MIND." Zazzy hissed. Chucking a ball of lightning at Xan. In which the parasite quickly sidestepped, nailing Asonja's already damaged and unconscious body. "Oh my. It appears fried hedgehog is on the menu tonight~" Xan grinned. Zazzy gasped, and ran for Asonja's body. Content with the mess he'd created. He literately turned on his heel, and sauntered off. Zazzy would have whooped his butt, but she was more concerned for her friend.

"Sonj.."

Barely any movement was made. His eyes had opened a little bit, noticing her blurred face. "Z-...Zaz...ah jeez...this'll take me a while to...get over with..." His small amount of surviving nanites were trying to jump-start the other ones. "Listen...I'm very sorry for...the way I've acted previously when I was...still somewhat healthy...and alive...but I think this is the final step for me, unfortunately...I don't want you doing anything stupid to get me back...I'd be best for me to leave so you could...find someone else of my stature."

"What are you talking about? No one could ever replace you.. Don't you dare leave now, you stupid hedgehog!" Zazzy sniffed. Tears welling up in her eyes.

As the sizzled nanites were erupting from his body, he sat there for a moment, eerily still as he exhaled sharply. He closed his eyes for a moment, and he slowly moved to his side, struggling to make his way up to his feet. "Don't...worry...I don't plan on...leaving just yet, actually. I have...many things to do..." He coughed, falling back to his front. He dug his fingernails into the dirt, trying to get himself back up again. His mind began racing:

''Everything...it's in so much pain...I can't even feel myself breathe or...anything for that matter. All because...I was a fool. I let him get to me...and the only chance I get to be with Zazzy longer is...fading rather quickly. I can't let myself become like this anymore...not when she's around! Come on, get up, stupid hedgehog!''

"Yeah. Like resting. You're getting blue-faced with effort. Sonj, don't make yourself pass out!" Zazzy scolded. Silently praying that he would be ok.

"There's no time for that..." He growled in reply. Purple lightning faintly went around him, as his core energy was powering back up. "I have something important to do...and I better do it now before I lose this one and only chance..."

"Look, stop talking crazy. You'll worsen your condition!" Zazzy said firmly, griping his hand lightly.

He managed to get to kneeling position, coughing out a bit of his blood to the side, which turned into burnt sand-like particles on the ground. "I don't want to miss this chance to finally...win at something...I don't want to give this up...I'm sorry Zazzy..."

His mind continued to race, opposing his decision: ''What're you thinking!? Do you want to die!? You're already close to death as it is! There's no reason to fight back now! Do you want Zazzy to insult you further, and possibly abandoned you like everyone else did?!''

The thoughts that were going off made Asonja go into a situational crisis, gripping his head. This further stressed him and hurt him more, crying, choking on his blood, nausea, and grief, hitting him all at once in every direction. What should he do? Should he follow Zazzy's instruction to get away from Xan and live, or fight Xan and get killed in this condition? The more he thought, the more damaged he became.

A single tear fell from Zazzy's face. Burying her face in Asonja's chest, she attempted a broken purr to help Calm him down. "He's not worth it. Sonj. Don't give him your time, or you'll go bankrupt. He lives to take..And I don't want you taken."

Asonja looked down at her, his heart rate seeming to decrease slowly. He wasn't able to say anything because of the massive pain he was in. "But...Revenge is on my mind...and I don't want this to go away...this will only vanish once I defeat him...I want to...I need to..."

"No. Don't. Believe me when I say. Revenge won't solve anything." She mumbled through his shirt. Speaking from her past experiences.

As much as his body wanted to disagree to her, his mind decided to give up on the revenge thing to not further get in trouble than he already was in. He hugged Zazzy, shivering a bit. "I want to...so badly...He was like one of my childhood enemies I've always wanted to beat their face in...But only because you told me not to, I won't...Everything is in pain to begin with...I don't want to put you in any pain either..."

(Chapter 5)- The Aftermath
"....We need to get you hospitalized. But I'm afraid to move you. How do you feel?" She asked, looking up into his eyes. "Don't lie either. I'm fed up with that."

He said nothing, coughing a bit more blood to the side. Asonja had no reason to lie, and didn't want to risk lying as it was the only thing he was good at saying, at least that his thoughts. His body had already told Zazzy that he was in huge amounts of pain. The look of missed opportunities of revenge, grief, and physical pain in his eyes was the frosting on the cake as well; they were very faint, almost to a pale white.

A pained look of Sadness washed over Zazzy's face. Its was hard for her to see him like this. But she took a deep breath in, and sat back up again to check his vitals. Signs of bruising was showing up along His skin. But when she checked his arm, the tattoo was gone. "I really hope your not hemorrhaging.." Zazzy muttered under her breath.

"I don't feel like that right now...I might get a migraine later..." Asonja tried to get up to Zazzy, and had to use her shoulders to get back on his feet.

Zazzy literately swept him off his feet, and held his frail body with great care. As if he could crumble in her hands at any moment. "Lemme get you inside." She said quietly. Heading inside her house, and plopping him onto the couch.

He coughed a little bit, pulling the nearest blanket onto him. "Is this...what comfort feels like...?"

Zazzy smiled a bit. "I hope so." She said, smelling like ashy smoke and grass. She then left for some supplies for his scratches. And came back with a cup of hot tea. "You might wanna drink this. Id'll help with the nausea and Funny taste in your mouth."

He drank a bit of it. Though he didn't taste much, he smiled a bit at its smooth texture down his throat. "Thank you. I'm feeling better already..I felt better by a bit when you picked me up bridal style." He laughed a bit, but coughed slightly. He covered his coughs with his arm. "Gah...hurts to laugh."

Zazzy grinned. "Gotta get the goods delivered to the door." She teased a bit. Before plopping down on the rug next to the couch. "Ugh. This has been. Crazy." She sighed, absent mindedly petting his hair.

He said nothing about it. He shuffled a little bit, a little closer to her. "Yeah...I almost died and you were having panic attacks...definitely not one of my better days. I don't even do anything anyway so...this was an experience..."

She sighed. "Yeah. No kidding." Zazzy mewed, tail lashing around. "Never. Do that. Ever again.." She whispered.

He rubbed the back of his head, his eyes looking at the ceiling. "I'll try not to...the bad guys love me, ya know?"

Zazzy laughed a bit. "They sure do. Wonder why?" She smiled. "Whatever the reason, they need to back off my man." Zazzy said with a bit of sass.

He blushed when she said that, but laughed along a little bit. "I'm not exactly sure what to say to carry that up...I'm a bit new to this...lover thing." He took off his glasses and set them on the table next to the tea cup he put down. He tried not to hurt himself too much.

"Ditto. I love a lot of things, but not as much as I love you." Zazzy said bluntly. Purring a bit with happiness, but mainly to keep Asonja calm.

He blushes, and wasn't sure exactly how to reply to her statement. He rolled around a bit in his the blanket, rolling him up in it. "This blanket feels comfy. Reminds me of my mother's blankets she would give me. My dad would get the material and my mom would sew it together. It felt like I was on a cloud. This one gives me that similar feeling."

"Really? Aw, I'm glad. Mountain goats in the summer have a lot of excess fur. So this one tribe I ran into apparently puts the fur to use. Making rugs, and other fuzzy creations.." She blabbed a bit.

Sometimes, Asonja would accidentally close his eyes from the warmth of the bed, and other times he would listen to her.

Completely oblivious to Asonja's drowsiness. She kept jabbering. "..Its really cool to watch them work all the fibers together into one big blanket. I traded some cool snacks and a brooch for a blanket this lady was making..."

Due to his condition, his body shut down as he went to a deep sleep. Obviously, it was on accident.

She continued to babble for awhile, before she finally noticed that he had dosed off. "..Oh." Zazzy murmured quietly. She was glad he was resting. So he could heal up. She silently rose from her spot on the floor and fetched him a pillow. In which she gently nestled underneath Asonja's head. "Get some sleep, Sonj'." She whispered. Kissing him on the top of his head before heading down the hall to her own room.

In the middle of the afternoon, the hedgehog finally awakens. He shuffled around in his blankets, not wanting to get out. He wanted to let Zazzy know of his hunger situation, which was pretty urgent, but feared that she would still be asleep and would be upset that he had awoken her. So he stayed on the couch, wrapped in the warm fuzzy blanket.

It took him a moment to realize that there was some loud noises coming from down the hall. In a few moments Asonja saw Lulu bolt by, clutching something in her mits. "LU, give it back!" Zazzy called, sounding a bit annoyed. "The pages were really hard to encode. I don't wanna do it all over aga- Oh. Sonj. You're awake!" Zazzy exclaimed. Lulu used this moment of distraction to escape into another room. "How are you feeling?" The feline inquired.

"Uhh, I feel fine." He says. "Were you up all night encoding papers?" He gave a hint on where Lulu had hid by moving his eye-sight to that room.

Zazzy's ears twitched, and swiveled to the room Asonja,was pointing to, listening in on her little thief. "Uhh..Not ALL night. Just until I got tired."

"I see..." Asonja sighed a bit. "I know you care about me, but you should also care about yourself a bit more..." He laid there for a moment, seeming to forget what he was going to say. That question was answered when his stomach growled. He hasn't eaten a thing in several hours.

Zazzy seemed to be bobbing up and down a bit, feet marching in place. "I swear, I am taking care of myself. I get the jitters something fierce if I don't wear myself out before bed. ALSO. I will get you something to eat.." Zazzy said the last part rather loudly. Like she was trying to tell the world. She then placed a finger over her lips, quietly shushing Asonja. As she tiptoed over to the doorframe of her library, and waited in still silence. Pretty soon Lulu peeked out the door, and Zazzy got the jumps on the small chao. "AHAA!" Zazzy called, as she snatched the book from her terrified chao. "Gottcha." Lulu huffed, and flew back into the living room. It looks like she was on the verge of a tantrum.

"Seems that Lulu is upset over playing a little game with you." Asonja assumed. "Why's the book so important?"

"Oh! This?" She gestured to the book. "It contains a bunch of entries from my travels around the world. "

"Ah, alright." Asonja stretched a bit on the couch. "Though, I hope the chao won't be too upset. Probably just wanted to play around."

She giggled. "Yeah. I feel bad about it sometimes. I'm always away from the house. I almost never have time to play. Good thing Lucy comes by to check on the house and my chao." Zazzy said, handing Asonja a plate with some pop tarts on it.

He nibbles on the pop tart carefully. "I would ask who Lucy is, but I don't want you to think that I would be cheating on you. Thank you for the poptarts, by the way."

"Pffft. Why would I think that? Lucy's one of my BFF's. She's a real sweet gal. She taught me how to bake!"

"Oh? That's interesting." He finished the poptarts and handed the empty place back to Zazzy. "My mom used to be an expert cook. If she was still here, she would be happy to teach you everything she knows."

"..." Zazzy paused for a moment in silence. "I'm sorry. But. Glad at the same time."

He sighs. "It's fine...I shouldn't get upset over it anyway." He looked up at the ceiling. "Anyway, is there anything for us to do?"

"Well. YOU will be resting. I need to figure out a way to check your brain for scars.." Zazzy replied thoughtfully. Squatting down to inspect Asonja's bruises.

There were bruises in places that were pretty obvious; mostly from the fight that was from Xan. Though, there were some unusual locations of bruises and scars, places that only Asonja would place down himself.

"Ugh. Man he cut you up pretty good." Zazzy remarked. Running her fingers gently down Asonja's scarred arm.

"Er...y-yeah." Asonja says rather quickly. "He did. Couldn't even hurt him myself."

Zazzy snorted a puff of air. "Stupid idiot pin cushion." She muttered under her breath. "Hmm. I don't.. Don't really know how to fix these. They seem to be healing fine. How is the rest of your body feeling?"

"It feels fine, I think." Asonja states. "I don't feel pain, but just soreness. And exhaustion, like my body was fighting back for control. It sustained itself pretty well, though."

"Well. Plenty of rest is in order! Got a favorite snack or movie?" She asked. Finishing up the inspection.

Asonja thought for a moment, seeming to have a confused look on his face. "Well...uhm...a favorite snack? I guess cookies is fine. I don't have a favorite movie, though."

"Is Disney movies ok? I have.. I have a LOT. Of Disney movies." She asked.

"...I'm not even sure what a Disney is." Asonja said blankly.

Zazzy gasped. "MARATHON TIME!" She belted at the top of her lungs. Running for snacks and bolting back with another blanket. "Yep. We'll just hang out all day, if thats ok with you." She said, turning on the T.V that was resting above her fireplace.

"I don't mind...I'd probably be sleeping most of the time, though." He responds, yawning.

The feline cuddled up next to Asonja on the couch. Swaddled in a blanket, and bearing a tin full of cookies, in which she promptly passed to the hedgehog. She had just put on some random movie aballbout a mermaid with crush issues.

He watched willingly, chewing on the cookies. "This is an interesting movie...She's too dramatic."

"Yep. Pretty much. But I'm too invested in the story to care." Zazzy purred. She was quite happy at the moment.

Asonja said nothing, but his instincts, his polite and loving instinct, made him scratch behind Zazzy's left ear. He wasn't even realizing that he was going that because he was watching the show.

The feline jumped a little, startled by Asonja's sudden contact. But that quickly vanished as Zazzy became disarmed by his scratches. Continuing to purr as she curled into a weird ball next to him.

Asonja just laughs a bit and strokes her hair instead. "Sorry, I dunno why I did that. Thought it was the best thing to do."

Zazzy seemed serene, and relaxed by merely being with Asonja. "Heheee.. no faaair." She mumbled incoherently. Feebly pawing at Asonja, but making no real attempt to stop him.

Asonja just chuckles and steals another cookie. "Just watch the movie, Zazz. Play time will be afterwards."

The feline's jaws stretch wide for a long yawn. "Yes. We have A through Z to get through in Disney movies. Alice in Wonderland is a personal favorite of mine."

"I've never seen any of them so...I'll try to stay awake during this marathon of yours." Her yawn made him yawn.

"Good..! Because We've got.. a lot to waatch." She said, seeming to drift off mid-sentence. Her systems was draining out, which meant two things. Zazzy was falling asleep... And if Asonja doesn't want to wake her. He will have to be stuck on the couch with a limp body curled up next to him.

He didn't mind this, as he was already asleep.

Lulu had also joined the cuddle fest. Hunkering herself down between the two. Zazzy was fast asleep in a few moments. Leaving the blue light of the TV by its lonesome.

Asonja was snoring quietly, but not too loud to annoy anyone. He didn't wake up until late afternoon.

Zazzy was out cold. Her limbs were splayed all over the place, She was hogging so much space, Lulu had moved to a different chair. Looks like someone has been up later than they will admit.

Asonja, being the polite person he was, decided not to move. Instead, he poked Zazzy lightly on the cheek. "Hello~? You awake?"

There was no response other than the sound of her soft breathing. The TV was still running, but it looks like the movie has been on loop. Several times.

He reached for the remote to turn off the TV. "Bleh...my head hurts..."

Lulu opened one sleepy eye and seemed to not care one bit. She yawned and sat up. "chow?"

Asonja looked at Lulu. "Oh. You're up...what have you been doing up after we slept?"

The chao mischievously rolled over, to reveal a book that she had been lying on top of. "Chow chooow~" She said in a rather snooty way.

"I see." Asonja says. His arm flickers as his Nanites were shuffling in action. His arm stretched out, the sand-like particles of the Nanites stretching out his arm to grab the book. "Let's see what you have here..."

Lulu squealed, and tried to hide the book again from him by using her tiny body. But to no avail, the corners of the leather bound book still jutted out into view.

"Aha!" Asonja yanked the book toward him, and his arm returned to normal length. He had brought the chao to him as well, on accident. "Apologies. My curiosity likes to get a hold of me."

The chao snorted in disapproval. Flying off the book, and crossing her arms in a mid-air pout. The book was sealed with a lock. The scribbles on the front was indecipherable.

"Hmmm...perhaps I shall give you something to cheer you up later?" Asonja asks while he had spawned ahard to tiny lockpicking kit to break open the lock.

The lock was pretty simple. There wasn't any extra precautions other than its rusted body in the way.

Asonja managed to prick open the lock, but he made sure he did it quietly. He doesn't like to violate privacy, but his curiosity was too much for him. He began to open then book, slowly and cautiously.

The book's pages were messily written, in a weird code that Asonja couldn't read. Between the glittery pen ink Zazzy used, and the overwhelming smell of perfume, it was hard to read the book without his eyes watering.

He coughs and closes the book. "Oh jeez...can't even read without my eyes burning..." He wipes his tearing eyes, having to put the book down on the floor to wipe them easier.

Zazzy stirred a little bit, but it turns out she was rolling over. Takings some of the blankets with her. Lulu seemed to be in awe of the shiny book.

Asonja sighed a bit, hanging off the couch. "You can take the book if you want. I can't even look at it for all I know..." Asonja tried very hard to squeeze out without waking Zazzy.

The chao snickered at this. Because she lacked a nose, the smell was rendered useless to Lulu. The chao promptly floated down to left through the pages.

Once Asonja had escaped Zazzy and was standing up fully, he looked at the front door in question of wanting to leave and return to his apartment, or stay with Zazzy. His conscious state fought against the decisions, making his narrow his eyes in confusion, looking back and forth between leaving or staying. He didn't even realize that he had his hand on the front door handle to begin with.

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a colorful calendar hanging from the wall next to the door. It had some sort of cheesy cat pun, and a bunch of glitter glued around the edges of it's pages. This month was jammed with stuff to do. A bunch of different dates was written in different inks. But the one that stood out to him, was a pretty purple color, that stood out among the red and pink hues. '"Asonja moves in 😊!" '  It said in her chicken scratch hand writing. Next to the event, She had tacked a picture of Asonja next to the date.

This made Asonja wince a bit, clutching his upper-left chest area tightly. He looked behind him, looking at the sleeping Zazzy. He made a choked-back noise in his throat, trying to hold back his tears. What is this that I'm feeling... he thought. ''Why do I feel so...upset all of a sudden? Does she care about me that much...? No, she shouldn't... I'm just dragging her down!''

He let go of the handle, and collapsed on his side, still clutching his heart area. ''I'm not suitable for this... I can't... I shouldn't ...! ''He curled up onto himself, making louder choking noises as tears rained down on the flooring.

"Nnnnnn...?" Zazzy could be heard from the other side of the couch stirring from her sleep. "Heeey.." She yawned. "Was'.. Waz  goin' on?" She asked groggily, rubbing her eyes.Then slowly sitting up on the couch, revealing her tangled blonde hair.

He heard her wake up, and he quickly got up onto his knees, hiding his tears. "U-uh...oh, hey Zaz. How'd ya sleep?" He still sounded like he was going to cry again.

"You sound.. weird." She stuttered. Looking half-asleep. Zazzy managed to rest her head on the couch's backing, while still facing Asonja. "Wassssup?,Did I miss Lion king?"

"No I just...stubbed my toe, that's all..." He sniffled. "The same movie was looping over and over again anyway..."

"Blaaaaa." She groaned, stretching her limbs out. "Sorry. I didn't realize that I went to sleep.." She yawned. Getting up from the couch. "Lemme get a band-aid for that."

He was eyeing the calendar again, muttering, "If you have a band-aid for my heart, maybe..."

"Wha? Did your chest hit a corner er.. somethn'?" She asked in a sleepy daze. Confusion apparent on her face.

"Nono, it's nothing...I promise." He laid there, this time looking like he was lying and feeling a bit guilty for lying.

"You look awful. Is your head hurting?" She asked, seeming to wake up a little bit, as she produced a plain band-aid and squatted down to see his stubbed toe.

His stubbed toe was actually fine, as he had lied about that. "No...my head isn't hurting. My chest though is hurting from my feelings..."

"Wow, you heal fast. No bruise.." She muttered. "Also, what do you mean..? Whats wrong?"

He points to the calendar. "I saw that writing on the calendar...I felt guilty for...trying to leave you while you slept..."

She started to get that confused look again. "Wha? Why...?"

"I just...felt like I didn't belong here. I'm not used to being with other people since I've been alone for such a long period of time...isolation made me comfortable...but after seeing that, I noticed how much you really cared about me...and I'm sorry for trying to push myself away again..."

The feline's ears drooped down a little. "Oh Sonj. Goodness.." She sighed, reaching over to hug the hedgehog. "Of course you belong."

"I know...I just had that same feeling that I felt when my parents left...but this one felt like it was...positive and not negative...It's strange." With that, he hugged Zazzy, resting his head on her shoulder. "At first I thought I didn't belong...and now I should feel like I do."

Zazzy was smiling from ear to ear. "I'm.. So glad." She sighed in relief. Patting Asonja's back.

He sighs, seeming to be a sigh of relaxation. "For once, I don't feel like I'm stressed. I have forgotten what this felt like."

The cat was softly purring again, gently squeezing Asonja in her embrace. For once, she said nothing. She was simply.. there.

And, to break the moment, he sneezes behind her.

She then remembers that he's still healing from injuries. So, she pulls away from the hug and helps Asonja to his feet. "Hey, get your butt back on the couch. You're still healing up.. Remember??"

"Oh, right." Asonja nods, gets up and goes back into the couch. "By the way, do you have tomatoes and milk? Along with some cucumbers, red peppers, lettuce, salt, vinegar, and Olive Oil?"

"Uuuh. Strangely specific. But, yes. I think so. Lucy stocks my kitchen..Soo, I'm never 100% sure. Whacha want me to make..?" She replied, then asked. Taking out The Little mermaid disk from the Dvd.

"Actually, I was offering to make my Mother's Tomato Soup and Salad recipe for dinner. I learned from the best and I wanted you to take a break from cooking for a while and let me do it."

"Why? You need rest. Mister." Zazy asserted, looking up from the Dvd player.

"I feel fine, Zazzy, honest." Asonja replies. "I just feel that you're overworking yourself for my safety. As much as I appreciate it, I feel that I should help myself and you by making dinner."

The cat sighed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She looked as if she was about to argue, but instead she just crawled back onto the couch. "Fine.." Zazzy mumbled.

"I'll be fine and you'll be fine, I promise." He stroked her hair for a moment before heading inside the kitchen area.

Lulu floated in after him to watch him cook. Zazzy ended up putting on another movie and curled into a ball on the couch.

"You want to help make the salad, little guy?" Asonja asked Lulu. "While I get the cutting supplies, could you fetch the vegetables in the fridge for me please? That would be awesome."

The chao was tempted to diss him and go do something else. But she was kinda hungry. So she did her best to get to the fridge and open the door. However, her nub hands made it very difficult.

Asonja looked over to see her having trouble, so he walked over and opened it for her. "There ya go, little fella. Don't hurt yourself."

Lulu went and grabbed the lettuce with both arm nubs, trying hard to heft the huge vegetable to the counter-tops.

He helped her by holding the bottom. "Thank you thank you." He gave her a little pat on the head before cutting up the lettuce with his... finger? His index finger had turned into a sharp metal blade that sliced cleanly through the lettuce

The chao swiped a lettuce leaf from Asonja's neat pile before his knife came down for another slice. "Chao!' She chirped as she nibbled at the morsel.

He laughed a little at this. "Well, it's always nice to have a taste-tester!" He places the slices of lettuce in a large bowl. He then goes to the fridge to take cucumbers, tomatoes, red and yellow bell peppers. He sliced the tomatoes into fourths, skinned the cucumber and chopped the corners off before chopping it into thin slices, and made nice long slices of the bell pepper, of course taking the seeds out and everything else, and putting them all into the bowl. He left some slices for Lulu to snack on.

"Now, we just need salt, olive oil, and Vinegar. This is the fun part because I get to experiment with how things should taste, but it's also very hard to get the right combination."

Lulu didn't have a clue on what He was saying, nor did she care. She just sat there, content with her snack.. and watching him work.

He didn't notice she didn't understand him, but that didn't matter to him. He added the salt in first, then a tiny bit of vinegar, and a swirl of Olive Oil. He put a top on the bowl, shook it and picked out a cucumber for Lulu. "Mind trying this for me? I dunno if it's good or not."

She swiped the cucumber from his grasp, and gave it a tentative sniff before taking a big chomp out of it. After some thorough chewing, Lulu got up and salted his salad a bit more, before giving him a imaginary 'thumbs up.'

He nods at that, and mixed it up again. He repeated the process with her until it was perfect to their needs. "Zazzy! Dinner is ready!" He calls, while he was also making the tomato soup. It smelled amazing.

The feline came padding in, hair still remained disheveled, and her fur stuck up in random tufts. "Hey. this looks great!" She sniffed. Lulu silently agreed, as she tried to sneak another cucumber from the salad.

Asonja could see her doing so, but he chuckled and nodded to allow her to take another. "Thank you. Help yourself to some salad, and don't forget to share some with Lulu. She helped me by being the taste-tester."

Zazzy pulled a few plates and bowls from a cabinet nearby, and proceed to serve herself some salad/soup. She then gathered her plate, and took it to the table within the kitchen.

Asonja got his serving and even gave Lulu her own little serving and gathered everyone to the kitchen. "You guys go ahead and try first. I want to know how I did."

The cat stabbed at her salad and chomped down on what her fork collected. "Wow. Dis is gret." She managed to say through a mouthful of vegetables. Lulu was too busy with a dollop of soup to throw sass at Asonja.

He didn't seem to care as he was eating and drinking the soup on his own. "Glad you like it. You can thank my mother."

"Well. THANK YOUUUUU!" Zazzy yelled at the top of her lungs. A big cheesy grin on her face. "Wanted to make sure she heard me."

Asonja's ears rang for a moment, and shook his head. "I'm...pretty sure she heard..." He picked at his ear, as if checking for any blood vessels that had popped from the volume.

She playfully shoved Asonja a little bit before returning to her salad. Lulu was in the process of fixing herself another bowl of soup in the background.

There was plenty of servings to go around. Asonja had quietly put his bowls in the sink to wash them.

"Hey, Sonj. Thanks for cooking~" Zazzy called, licking the remains of her soup bowl.

"You're welcome Zaz. It was the least I could do to help around here." He responds, sitting back down next to her. "I'll take that to the sink for ya."

"Nooooope. You cooked, now I'll clean up the dishes." She purred, snatching her bowl and carrying it to the sink. Zazzy then pulled out a pair of rubber gloves, and got out some suds for her dishwasher.

Asonja sat there on the couch before taking the rest of the messes to the sink. He made sure Lulu was finished and she could always come back to the bowl if she needed more. There was some soup and salad left over.

Lulu was full and sleepy from the big meal. She had eaten WAY more than a chao was allowed to have. But Asonja didn't know that.. The chao floated into the living room and flopped down on one of the armrests of the couch. Sounds of Clanking dishes could be softly heard from the kitchen.

"Jeez, Lulu seemed to have had a feast over here." Asonja noted, but not noting about the chao behavior; he's actually never seen a chao before, and never learned about them, so he's particularly new to the whole thing.

"Chaaaaaoooow." She groaned. Curling into a tired ball of fluff or.. fat? Perhaps it was a bit of both.

Asonja wasn't exactly sure what to do in this situation, so he just stood there, looking at the blank TV.

Zazzy wrapped things up in the kitchen, and emerged smelling like orange dishwashing soap. "Hiya. What did I miss?"

"Nothing. Lulu is full, and I'm just sitting here."

Zazzy walked behind the couch, to kiss Asonja on top of his head. She paused to give his hair a tentative sniff. "Huh. You smell smokey."

"Well, you hit me with a lightning bolt and never took a shower after that. Don't want to wash away that war medal." Asonja joked.

The cat giggled nervously. "Sorrrr~y" Zazzy said apologetically. "I do have a bathroom if you need to use it.'

"I know, I know, don't worry about it." He poked her nose. "But I do feel the war with him isn't quite over yet. Gotta prepare for it in the future, anyway. What do you suggest we do now?"

"Mmm. I dunno." she said, actually half surprised herself. "Usually I'd wanna get out of the house, but I'm not antsy today."

Asonja just lays down on the couch, groaning a bit. "That's fine...I feel kinda down today anyway." This was odd, considering he's not very emotional sometimes.

"Down? Like sad?" Zazzy asked gently, genuinely concerned for his well-being.

"I guess you can put it like that, I dunno..." Asonja rolls over, seeming to move away from her. "I become emotional nowadays and today I just feel...what's the word...depressed? The need to isolate? I dunno how to describe it."

Zazzy patted his head. "But thats ok. You have me!" She said cheerfully. "..right..?" Zazzy added, looking a bit doubtful.

"Yeah. I do." Asonja says. "It's not like nobody else is interested in a dark grey hedgehog who can spawn weapons from his arms illogically."

"...Eh?? Well. More Sonj' for me to hang out with." She said optimistically. Hugging his head.

He says nothing and doesn't resent to her hugging his head. He lays there, before eventually falling asleep.

She sighed, and fetched a pillow for his head. In which she then tucked him in with a fluffy blanket, there on the couch. "Need to get you a bed.." Zazzy murmured. Heading to her room to get cleaned up.

He stayed there for a while until the next afternoon. Though, something seemed off with him. He hasn't moved at all.

Zazzy had done a few chores around the house before returning to Asonja. She sat down with him for a little bit before noticing that he was stone cold. "...?" A low, curious, kitty 'mrrreh' came from her throat. As she checked his pulse.

It was very low, almost faint. His body temperature seemed low, as his Core had appeared to have shut down. It wasn't a major issue, as it turned back on and he had a quick pulse of purple for a second before waking up. "Eh...? I could've sworn I just went to sleep minutes ago...Oh hey Zazzy, what's up?"

Zazzy was staring, with huge, rounded eyes. That could have been mistaken for the moon. "Your.. ok..?"

"..Huh?" Asonja looked confused, but it took a while to figure it out. "OH! You probably noticed my Core shut off. Yeah, it does that...the Core is basically my heart, and since it's so low with Chaos Energy, I can hardly function very well. I'm sorry I scared you.."

"...What can I do to help?" She asked quietly. After a long period of silence.

"Well, there's not much to help, unfortunately." Asonja stated, sitting up a bit. "I'm just doing everything I can but I feel like the Core is leaking out energy faster. Perhaps it has something to do with my low endurance, maybe. And plus, I've overused it so many times during the battle with Xan. I don't think I'd be able to win this post-war here...at least I think I can out-live this."

"You can do it! I know you can. " Zazzy encouraged. "I wonder if there's a way we can fix the leak?"

"Possibly let it heal, maybe. I'm not a doctor." Asonja shrugs.

A scary look of determination flashed over Zazzy's face. "OK! Chicken noodle soup is good for the soul. But we just ate. Soo medicine is good for healing stuffs, but you're not sick, and eating medicine when you're not sick could actually GET you sick..." She started to ramble off, trying to think of a solution.

Asonja quietly sat there, looking at her sometimes. He was actually a bit worried himself, but he looks to have had this happen before.

She paused. "Hey wait. Chaos energy? You run on chaos energy? Do ya think it would help boot your systems if I gave you some??"

"I have no idea..." Asonja stated. "I'm not much of a chaos wielder, as I think having too much power can be disastrous. As well as gaining the legendary 'super' form or something like that."

"Oh. lets uh.. avoid that.." Zazzy dodged, tapping her feet together to think of something else. "Whats another way to patch you? Get the nanites to heal themselves?"

"It's not the Nanites that are damaged, it's the core itself." He theorizes. "Perhaps we don't have much of a choice but to heal it with Chaos energy."

"I don't have a source with me, though." She frowned. "Hmmmmmm.." Zazzy pondered, pulling a map out of no where and observing its contents for a moment.

Asonja didn't even question how Zazzy got the map, so he just sat there for a moment, sighing, and taking a quick nap before anything happens.

"We need to find chaos energy residue." She said finally. "We would need to find an object charged with chaos energy.. That's closeee by.. Hmmm.."

Asonja snored quietly on the couch.

Zazzy's ear swiveled over to the soft sounds, and as her eyes turned to find Asonja sleeping, she sighed. "Oh goodness. Sonj', we need a gameplan." She whispered loudly. Poking him in the nose.

His sausage nose twitched a bit and he opens one eye. "A gameplan? For what again?"

"...For you. ya Cheese." Zazzy sighed. "..Chaos emeralds are crazy hard to find. Plus when you do find one, you get a big target drawn on your back." She started to babble. "Well. there are alternative sources though."

"Psh. Target Sharmget." Asonja rolls his eyes. "As long as I get what I need, it should be fine."

"Uhh. ooo~kay? Are you feeling well?" Zazzy asked, looking up from the map. A little concerned with Asonja's odd behavior.

"It's an attitude change. It happens time to time..." He gets up from the couch. "Not like I care...anyway, can we get going now? Or are we just going to sit here and waste our time..."

"..." Zazzy seemed a little irked. But she attempted to drown it out with a smile. "Ok. The quickest thing I can think of Is visiting a good friend of mine. He'll have what we're looling for, PLUS.",She paused, for dramatic effect. "HE KNOWS MAGIC!" Zazzy squeed, bouncing off the couch and walking up to one of the shelves lining the walls of her living room. From the trinkets she plucked a silly little snowglobe, then she marched to Asonja.

Asonja didn't seem in any way phased, though normally he would be chuckling. He did pull a small smile as she approached. "Oh, like me?"

"Oh?? You can do magic too??!" She asked, getting excited again. Zazzy's perkyness could currently not be contained.

"...In a way..." Asonja nervously stated. "Remember when my arm was chopped off and it came back? That's the 'magic' I was talking about."

"Oh yeah." Zazzy pondered. Tapping her chin. "But, that was trick magic, right?" She said, absent-mindedly rubbing the top of the snowglobe she held in her hands.

He held up his hand, in which turned into the Nanite-sand and crumbled onto the carpet. "Nope. It's one of my main abilities."

The feline grabbed a handful of the sand in one fell swoop. "Hey, does it tickle when I do this?" She asked, poking the sand.

"Nope. Can't feel it because it's no longer connected to my body. I can do this." The sand suddenly wooshes back to Asonja's arm, and it formed a different kind of arm; a muscular scaley arm of that of a dragon, similar to Zoralth but he doesn't have muscles. "Oh my, this looks highly unproportionate." He shifts the arm from behind muscular to his left arm's size. "There we go."

Zazzy was grinning from ear to ear. "Can you shapeshift??!" She half-gasped.

"In a way, yes I can." Asonja stated, as if he, too, was surprised. "I thought I could change my individual limbs." His entire body turned into the Nanites, and he became an exact copy of her, except with his clothing. "See? Now I'm a splitting image of you! Look at me, I'm a goofy goober!" He waddled around and rolled around the floor. He wasn't making fun of her in a bad way, but in an enjoyable manner so that it's laughable by all teams.

"Oh COOOOOL!" Zazzy cheered, clapping her hands together. "But also kinda weird. Like looking in a mirror." She commented, unconsciously beginning to groom her puffy hair. Smoothing it down with her hands.

Asonja, with the body of Zazzy, laid on his back with his hands and feet up slightly. "I can do several others, I think. Let's see..." He thought for a moment when he shifted into the sand again, only to shift into a completely feral black-scaled dragon. "Oooh! I like this."

"A dragon? Like Zor Zor?" Zazzy ooh'ed. Flopping down on the floor to touch the scales lining his arms.

"Zoralth isn't feral, like this one." He replies. "I'm standing on all fours, while Zoralth stands on two legs." He pat her head with his right front foot, the claws barely hurting her.

Zazzy purred, nudging the dragon hand with her head. "Feral? So, a wild dragon. This is still very cool." She said, grabbing Asonja's other hand and touching the claws that stuck outta his hand.

"Mhm. I never thought that I could do this until thinking to myself, 'If I could change my body limbs, why not change my entire body?', and boom, here's this amazing idea." He wiggled his claws a little bit. "Also, I'm very tickish there..."

Zazzy paused a moment. Before flicking her tail soft tail across his claws, just to see if he would giggle.

He yelps and backs up, a slight struggled smile appearing on his face during that. "H-hey! I told you I'm ticklish there!"

The cat grinned, but politely obeyed his plea. Gently setting down his claw, and tucking her tail close to her body. "There. Sorry. I was curious."

He rolled his eyes, chuckled, and gave Zazzy a slobbery dog-lick. "I believe that's how dogs show signs of affection and acceptance of apologies. I think."

Zazzy purred. "Now I need a bath." She giggled. Scratching Asonja's neck. "I like the scales. But. This can't replace the Asonja I know and love."

He blushed a little bit and he formed back to his original form.

"There we go." She half cooed. Hugging Asonja.

He hugged back, still blushing quite a bit. "I can't get over that sentence you said. It means quite a bit to me."

She patted him on the head. "Well duh, silly." she grinned.

Asonja patted her head as well, pulling away after a while. "Where's Lulu, by the way?"

"Uh. Actually. I don't know." Zazzy wondered outloud. The house was silent, aside from the gentle hum of an AC in the background.

"...You don't think she probably...ya know?" He made a motion of a figure flying out the window.

"Wha?" Zazzy stared blankly at Asonja a moment. The rusty gears in her head turning, before she finally understood what he meant. "OoooooH! Sure. She does it all the time. Lulu hates being cooped up. She always comes back eventually though." Zazzy responded.

"Well...according to my calculations of time, she slept here on this couch when I fell asleep. From that time to right now, which is about 8 hours, she hasn't seemed to have returned."

The feline tapped her chin. "That IS a long time. Hmm. We better find her."

"Do you know where she could've gone?" Asonja asked before, smacking himself in the head and rushes to her room. "Of course! I might have an idea on where she could've gone." He went around Zazzy's room, looking around for clues. "Zazzy, your diary where you kept the map. It's gone. Lulu must've taken it."

"WHAT." Zazzy asked, voice edged with annoyance. "LUUUUUUUU!" She bellowed, clenching her fists and jumping up to her feet. "I don't have any way to track the diary though!"

"That's not good..." Asonja stated. "Where do you think she could've gone?"

"She likes to hang out with my friend, Lucy. Because of all the sweets she bakes. I bet that where the little DIARY SNATCHER WENT." Zazzy huffed. Clearly not happy.

Asonja patted her head to try to calm her down before walking out. "Well, we shouldn't waste time. Come on."

Zazzy sighed. "Oook." With that, she marched out the door. Motioning with her tail for Asonja to follow.

He did so, following Zazzy. Though, he seemed very paranoid when he steps outside.

In a good 30 minutes, they arrived at Lucy's bakery. As soon as they opened the door, a little bell chimed to announce a new customer. The sweet aroma of baked goods flooded their noses. It was a cute little shop. in the back, someone was scrambling to get to the front desk.

"Uuuuuuh H-hello! Welcome to Loo's sweets, how can I help you..." A woman called from the back, running to the desk, a tray of cookies in her hands.

"EEEEEEE, hiya Lucy!" Zazzy squealed, jumping over the counter to hug Lucy.

Asonja stayed in the back, holding the door open with a sweatdrop going down the side of his face. He was eerily silent, looking around at the various breads.

"Oh. Zaz, Hi there!" The lady clucked. Now that she was standing still, it became apparent that Lucy was a rather heavy set chicken. "Ooooooh, is this that boy that moved in?" Lucy asked, attention turning to Asonja. "C'mon in, dear. I don't bite...Don't got the teeth to!"

Asonja walked in, closing the door behind him. He eventually walked up next to Zazzy, still oddly quiet and looking around.

"So, Lucy, We came by to ask if you've seen Lulu? She hasn't come back home in a while." Zazzy asked. Snatching one of the cookies off the tray and taking a big bite out of the snicker-doodle.

"I have in fact. The little fun size waz' hangin out here at my bakery earlier today." Lucy replied. Offering a cookie to Asonja.

He looked a bit confused for a moment and the cookie and then to Lucy, like she crazy, and he carefully took it from her like it was going to crumple. He took a small bite on the cookie.

"Really? Is she still here?" Zazzy asked, voice full of hope.

"Naw, Sugarplum, she left about an hour ago. Took the back door and flew to who-knows-where."

Asonja hasn't even finished half the cookie during this conversation. He hasn't said a word either.

"Ugh, I can't think of anywhere else she'd go! Asonja, you have any ideas?" Zazzy turned to ask. Rubbing her temples.

Asonja was just halfway done with his cookie. "Well...I suggest we go out that exit and see if we can draw clues there."

Zazzy grabbed Asonja, and promptly dragged him through the kitchen to the bakery's back door. Like she had done it a thousand times..

"Hey, let me know what you think of those cinnamon rolls on the counter!" Lucy called, as the bell chimed in the distance. The hen would be busy with her new customer.

Asonja didn't touch the buns, mainly because he was being dragged too fast to never even know of their existence. He didn't bother with them anyway.

Zazzy promptly snatched a cinnamon roll. Shoving it in her mouth as she dragged Asonja out the door. "SEEYOULATERLUCYi'LLCALLYOULATERHEYTHEPLACELOOKSGREATBYTHEWAY!" She yelled through a mouthful of cinnamon goodness. Bits of the pastry came flying out of her mouth.

Asonja was slightly disgusted by that, but couldn't help but smile at her goofiness. Once they reached outside, he looked around. "Well, which way did you think she went?"

The cat stroked her chin, eyes narrowing. Mind you. She still had cinnamon roll in her mouth. So her pudgy face ended up looking quite ridiculous. "Watson we must look for clues."

"Swallow the roll first, Sherlock, I can't understand you." Asonja states.

"Hrminer munbun supuhbluhbla!" She sputtered cheekily. Purposefully making her words unintelligible.

"..." Asonja said nothing and just began to walk in a random direction.

"...?" Zazzy was puzzled. "Ver r yoo gooin?" She mumbled, finally swallowing her cinnamon roll.

"Finding Lulu. Duh." Asonja replies. Oddly, he was having his mood swings again.

"Ok! I'm coming with you. Duh. Don't leave meeeee." She said. Eyes dilating from the sugar content in those pastries. She was gonna be hyper..

"Well, if you're going to be too hyper to the point you'll be hurting yourself and myself, I'm gonna have to go to drastic measures to keep you still." Asonja warned.

"Uuuuuh. Like what? A tickle attack?" She asked, bouncing circles around the hedgehog.

"No. This." Asonja twirled his wrist for a moment, as vines wrapped around her leg to stop her from moving. "Now, coming along." Asonja walked forward, and the vines holding her followed.

"WEEEEEEEEE" Zazzy didn't mind, she enjoyed the ride.

Asonja looked around, the vines following along shortly beside him. "If you see a flying object, just tell me and I'll try to go that direction."

"I SEE A FLYING OBJECT." She screamed suddenly. Wildly pointing at the sky.

"Where?" Asonja jumped a bit at her shouting.

Up in the sky, was a pair of blue birds flitting about. Nesting materials loaded in their beaks. "LOOOOOOK!" Zazzy said, pointing several times at the sky.

"...Okay, change of rules: If you see a flying object that IS A CHAO, OR IS A CHAO IN GENERAL...then you can tell me." Asonja stated.

"Oh. Okay." Zazzy saluted. Rocking back and forth, even with the restraints. "I liiiiike sweets."

"Perhaps I should limit your time with Lucy to prevent you getting a sugar-high." Asonja states, looking around. "Even if I never eat sweets myself..." He muttered the last part to himself as he continued to walk, the vines continuing to follow and hold her.

"You can't! WE ARE BEEEEEST FRIENDS!' She sang at the top of her lungs. Asonja suddenly stepped on something crunchy.

He stopped at this, and looked down and about. "What the...what was that?"

There was the broken remains of a cookie on the ground. "I DUNNO. A stick??" Zazzy asked in her silly stupor.

"...Huh. A clue." Asonja bent onto his knees at the cookie. "Seems fresh. We must be in the right path."

Up ahead was a tiny trail of sprinkles, that crossed over a bridge that sat above a small stream of water. "Huh! THE GAME IS AFOOT! And a smelly one, at that!" Zazzy mewed.

Asonja make a quiet snicker at that before getting up and dragging Zazzy along, the vines still softly around her to make sure she doesn't blast off into space. "Well, let's clean that foot so it's nice and fresh."

"Hm. Did you taste the cookie to check how old it was?! THE SMELL GIVES EVERYTHING AWAY." Zazzy cried. Squirming in the vines again.

"Ew! No! I'm not eating a cookie that's been on the ground for who knows how long!" Asonja grunted a bit. "You think I'm THAT crazy?"

"Hm, you're not half the detective I thought you were. Watson." Zazzy mewed, squinting at Asonja with suspicion.

He sighs and continues walking. "Let's just find a sweet trail or whatever."

Sure enough there was a trail of cookie crumbs leading to the downtown area of the city... Which was a rather nasty place.

"Now why in the world would a Chao, all alone, decide to go into a city?" Asonja asks.

"HMMMM. It's all part of the bigger.. Grander scheme!" Zazzy yelled crazily. As the trail neared an alley way.

"Hush, Zazzy." Asonja says, a vine stretching out and softly covering her mouth. "You might be right, but let us see..." He peeked in the alleyway.

The alleyway was a dead end. The trail of crumbs ends here.

"Hmm...odd." Asonja says, crossing his arms. "Seems to me, she was captured."

There was faint sounds of club music in the distance. If you held still, you could feel to beat pulse under your feet. Zazzy was suddenly very quiet.

Asonja stayed there and got Zazzy out of the vines. He took her hand for protection and lead toward the source silently

Zazzy fell flat on her face, limp body was now being dragged around by the arm. Seems the kitty ran out of juice.

"Oh dear." Asonja says before having to pick her up to carry her to the source instead.

The kitty's soft snores was drowned out by the rising volume of the near-by club music. The back door of the club was locked.

"Hmm...guess I'll go to the front where all the people are." Asonja grumbled and walked. "Social Anxiety, do your thing."

There was oddly, no front to the club. The building was clearly the source of the music though.