Roleplay: Welcome to the Ether Forest (Free Join)

Overview
Rumors have spread about a mysterious forest filled with strange flora, paranormal activity, and brimming with strange energy. This is the Ether Forest, home to the Magic spirits and their guardian... Will your character brave this new terrain? What will they find, and what will they do...?

Rules

 * 1. Standard roleplaying ettiquete applies. No godmodding, powerplaying, autohitting, killing characters without permission, etc.
 * 2.Keep it PG-13. No sex, no excessive cussing. Crap, damn, and hell are acceptable.
 * 3. Please, put some effort into your posts. Novel format if possible.
 * (Example: "Oh, hello Sonic! How's your day?" Tails asked. "Not bad..." Sonic replied.)
 * 4.Have fun!

Participants

 * Lunari64 (Owner)
 * Joshua the Hedgehog (Participant)
 * Jaredthefox92 (Participant)
 * vitom
 * NTH (Participant)
 * Josh the Hedgehog (Participant)
 * DeathstroketheHedgehog (Participant)
 * RedRush3999 (Participant)
 * Enervar (Participant)
 * felipexbox2(participant)

Heroes
(Those who want to protect the Ether Forest from any evildoers.)
 * Io the Cat (Lunari64) (A cat controlled by two Magic Spirits. She protects the Ether Forest.)
 * Joshua Zephyrius (Josh TH) (He wants to protect the forest for the sake of a friend.)
 * Ruben The Hedgehog (Enervar) (He's teleported to forest and here he will transform his villain self to a hero and protect the forest)
 * makoto the hedgehog(felipexbox2) (he´s here to protect the forest custing his life,but,nothing will stop he)

Good Neutral
(Those who want to both protect and explore the forest.)
 * Esme The Hedgecat (RedRush3999) (She records all of the events in her journal while also preventing evil-doers from exploiting or destroying the forest.)
 * Novo the Hedgehog (NTH) (For three reasons: One,he likes traveling and exploring places.Two,he heard of rumors about spirits and the forest's guardian and decides to investigate. Three,he's trying to stop Dr. Conquers from taking over the forest.)
 * Hugh the wolf (vitom) (begins investigating the anomolies to write in a journal but begins to desire to protect it)

Neutral
(Those who only want to explore the Ether Forest, and see what it has to offer.)
 * Amanda (She is a villain, but witches are usually tree huggers. )
 * Magical Grief (Amanda's nephew and sidekick, he's a half-witch who has some really bizzare powers.)
 * Joshua Sentrium Burns (Obvious User is Obvious) (Wants to explore the forest.)
 * Midnight the Mercenary (DeathstroketheHedgehog) (Looking for a Green Chaos Emerald that had fell in the forest {he's a dynamic character, so he will not be Neutral throughout the entire rp})
 * Komerl "Aden" Hedgehog (Will appear later into the story. He is currently sealed his Cosmic Emerald, meditating until something happens....)

Villians
(Those who want to harm or exploit the Ether Forest and it's residents.)
 * Dr. Conquers the Squirrel (Has heard about the rumors of the Ether Forest and seeks to make it part of his empire
 * Vermudegarii (Pursuing Joshua Zephyrius, the chief of the enemy faction in the perspective of the invading Myriad of Regeleim. Will not hesitate to lay the forest in waste if it is in his way of pursuing his enemy.)
 * anthony the hedgehog(he only wants destroy the forest so,he join forces with the villians)

Part One
On a foggy, yet warm spring morning, the sun rose over the Ether Forest. From the outside, the forest looked completely normal, but something was strange. Rumors were starting to circulate about what lay in the deepest parts of these woods....

Amanda and Grief (Closed)
Amanda was heading towards the forest while leading her young nephew Grief behind him. The two witches were naturally attracted and intrigued by the mystical energy that filled the land with such an wondrous occult odor that both their highly sensitive magical smelling noses could easily smell.

The two might feel like they're being watched, too.

"Do you feel that, deaire?" Amanda asked the child.

"Yeah! I feel like I'm getting the heebie jeebies!" the child replied.

"Si, best stick close to me, dearie.." She replied back to the child.

Around them, the forest was quite beautiful. The trees were bright and lively, some crawling with vines. The underbrush wasn't too thick, so it was easy to walk through. The two might hear faint whispering. Was someone there?

Both foxes ears perked up naturally as the adult fox put her finger over her mouth to signify for the child to be quiet, while he nodded in response. They kept quiet and both listened in.

"What is going on here?" One voice whispered. "Relax, let's go check." Another replied. The two foxes might smell more of the magic energy- and it was close.

Meanwhile, near the two foxes, something peeked out from the leaves, in the next tree over. It was a spirit, a young girl. She stared a little bit, before waving.

"Uhh, over there." The child said as he tugged unto the cape of the adult fox and she looked in the direction of the spotted girl.

The girl smiled, in a friendly manner. "Hello!" She greeted Amanda and the child.

"Ciao." Amanda replied back

"That means hi." Grief informed.

The spirit girl nodded. "Who are you?" She asked the two of them.

"Amanda Moscati, e mio nepote, Griefan Moscati." The lady replied.

"Call me Grief." The child interupted.

"Si, call him the sadness." The aunt joked as she rubbed his head.

The girl didn't seem to underatand the joke, but smiled nonetheless. "Nice to meet you, my name's Aster!"

"Nice to be meeting you, stella." The adult lady replied.

The two might see not too far away, a group of cabins was occupying a clearing in the woods. They all seemed abandoned and lifeless.

"Look aunt Amanda, a town!" Grief said as he tugged on her cape.

"Si! Perhaps we be going there?" Amanda asked Grief.

"Why not?" Grief replied while nodding his head.

The girl chuckled slightly at this, before leading them to the cabins.

The two followed behind the girl seemingly oblivious to the errie and creepy nature of the town. It was as if the two were used to living in some isolated areas within the woods. Amanda merely grabbed the child's hand and led him behind her as the followed the girl.

The group of cabins was barely even a neighborhood, it was merely a small colony. It only had room for a few families.

The girl seemed right at home among the two, since they were both very comfortable with the atmosphere here. She was starting to wonder why they weren't freaked out by her.

"So, who all lives here?" The young boy fox asked the little girl.

"Nobody, actually; this place was abandoned ages ago. Sometimes we have visitors like you, who stay here for a night or two at a time, but nobody's actually lived here for centuries.

"Who watches over the place?" Grief asked.

"Well, all of us spirits do; mostly, our guardian Io. T-She's super sweet..." The girl explained, awkwardly correcting herself.

"You are the spirit of the forest?" Amanda asked

"Is that like a tree ghost?" Grief asked

"No dearie." Amanda replied.

The girl snickered at Grief's question, meanwhile nodding to Amanda. "Yes indeed, there are many forest spirits here."

"Si, and mio nepote e myself are both witches." Amanda informed them.



(Why, Jared? -Luna)

The girl's face lit up with excitement. "Oh, I see! You'll fit in here great, then. These cabins were home to mystics and mages of the sort, from all over the world."

(Fitting~Jared)

"Muy bene." Amanda said as she grinned rather pleasingly.

"Can I have their stuff?" Grief asked

The girl looked quesrioningly at Grief.

"Well, can I? I need to practice my magic." The child replied.

"Well, there is some tools left behind from the mystics that used to live here, you may use them if you like. There's potions left as well, but nobody dares touch them because they were foolishy left unlabeled." The girl explained, leading them to one of the larger cabins.

"Meaning no touch the potions dearie, you remember what happened last time." The woman said as she stared at the child.

"Heh heh, yeah. Well at least I got some cool powers out of it aunt Amanda." The child replied.

"Luck shouldn't be relied upon dearie, your good fortune can only go so far." She replied back to him.

"Anyways, most of the stuff was left behind in here. Go ahead, explore to your heart's content." The girl told them, leading them to the front door of the cabin.

"Grazie" The lady said as she opened the door.

The spirit waved goodbye, before floating off.

"Arrivderci!" Amanda said

"Bye bye!" Gried said as he waved.

Inside, the house was old looking, and dusty. Nobody had stayed in there for a long time.

"Hmm, this casa could be usin the touch up." Amanda said.

"I'll say!" Grief replied.

They had seemingly walked into a kitchen/dining room, looking mostly bare, except for the table, counter, and cupboards.

"Do not be touching the rotten food deaire, if you are hungry we will find something fresher." The lady replied to the child.

"Okay." Grief replied.

Yet, there wasn't any food left in the house; just the potions, which were in a different room.

"Hmm, go be looking around to find any books we can be using, dearie." Amanda asked her nephew.

"Alright." Grief said as he moved into the other room while Amanda began cleaning.

The other room seemed to be a storage room of sorts, wit all of the left over mystic tools inside. There were staffs, potions and everything to make them (besides the ingredients), a scrying bowl, and, in the corner, some small books in a pile.

"Jackpot!" Grief let out as he smiled.

The staffs looked hand-made from branches, and the books appeared to be about potions, with the one on top being a notebook someone had written about the forest spirits.

"Well this stuff looks harmless. I'm sure aunt Amanda won't  get mad if I just take a look at least." Grief said as he shrugged and proceeded to walk over and open up a book.

It was the notebook, describing the the types of spirits among them, and how they lived their lives.

"Huh? This is about that girl?" Grief said as he began to read it.

Indeed, it was; based on the descriptions, she seemed to be an elemental spirit, perhaps a fire or light spirit.

"A fire and spirit huh? She must be bright." Grief said as he red onwards.

The book also described that there were day and night spirits, each with their own ruler.

"So they're like tribal elementals huh? Hmmm.." Grief said to himself as he read onwards.

There were more than just elemental spirits, too; there were warriors who protected the forest from danger, visionaries who could sense the use of magic anywhere in the forest, messengers who could traverse the forest at top speed, and more still.

"So that's what I've been feeling when aunt Amanda brought us here? Huh, I'd better tell her of this." Grief said as he put down the notes.

Yes, the spirits had been watching him, that's what he had been feeling.

"Hey aunt Amanda! I've found something!" Grief said as he walked into the kitchen that was being touched up by Amanda.

"Si? And what would that being mio nepote?" Amanda asked as she turned and looked at him.

"I've found out that we've been watched by the spirits!" Grief replied.

"Grief, we are witches, we're always being watched by the spirits." Amanda replied as she grinned in a rather amused tone.

"No, I mean the spirits of this forest, they are like a bunch of tribes and they've been watching us like the girl was." Grief replied

"Ah, si si." Amanda said as she shook her head.

Then, they might notice that someone, likely one of the spirits, had left some flowers at the front door for them. How sweet.

"Muy bonita." Amanda said as she saw them and picked them up.

"I guess that means she's friendly right?" Grief asked

"Si" Amanda replied.

The flowers were strange, seemingly a local kind that didn't grow anywhere else.

"Now we shall put these flowers in a vace, with the liquid." Amanda said as she picked them up and gave them a sniff.

The flowers were white, and indeed very fragrant; but, upon looking through the kitchen, there was no vase left in the house.

"Hmmm, that is not good." Amanda said as she turned over and looked.

"What's not good?" Grief asked

"No vace for the flowers." She replied.

There was, however, a short mug, likely for coffee. It might suffice, if they cut the stems short.

"Hmm, I suppose this would be doing." Amanda said as she moved over to a mug and then proceeded to look around for a pair of scissors.

There wasn't a pair of scissors, but there was a knife left behind.

"I'll get that knife aunt Amanda!" The child said as he pointed to it.

"No dearie! That is muy dangerious! I am the adult who shall be handling the sharp objects here si?" Amanda informed.

"Okay..."

The knife was still quite sharp after all this time, and cut the stems with no trouble.

"After a good washing this knife should also be good for cutting the sausage and the salami." Amanda said to herself as she proceeded to cut off the stems of the flowers.

Once they were done, they easily fit into the mug, and they looked and smelled beautiful.

"Muy bonita." Amanda said she she placed the jug in the middle of the room.

"Yeah, I guess." Grief replied.

After a little while, another spirit appeared outside, curious about who was in the cabin.

Joshua (Closed)
Joshua was one of the people who heard of these rumors. He decided to see if this was true. He starts getting his equipment ready, for any potential dangers.

Unbeknownst to him, this forest was actually very calm; very few monsters of the sort lurked around inside.

He begins his journey to the forest. Eventually, he arrives at one part of it.

The air was fresh, and smelled intoxicatingly of fruit. Joshua might get the feeling that he's being watched.

He gets the feeling of being watched. However, he foolishly shrugs it off, as he entered the forest.

As he entered, he might hear the rustling of leaves, as if something was darting between trees.

Hugh wandered the forest in hopes to find at least one thing supernatural. Hugh suddenly heard a noise and ran to it. Seconds later Hugh ran into Joshua. "Hey sorry 'bout that."

Joshua was encountered by Hugh, he is surprised. "Whoa. Where did you come from?"

After waiting for a bit for a response for Hugh, but nothing, He walked off, wandering deeper into the Forest.

When Joshua walked in, he might start to see something strange. On the ground, there were faint, glowing lines, made into patterns. They looked like runes of some sort.

He noticed the glowing line/runes. "...What in the..."

The leaves began to rustle again, when suddenly a face peeked out at him from the branches. It was a teen boy, a ghost like the others.

(Did the Ghost reveal himself to Joshua? Just askin')

(Yep! -Luna)

(Kay's)

He seemed rather watchful around himself once he heard the rustling from the leaves. The fact that the ghost Boy had revealed himself to him, had left him surprised. "....AH."

The boy waved, trying not to laugh. He seemed friendly.

He looked at the boy, slightly waving back, In both confusion and surprised. "Ah... Hi?"

The boy seemed curious about him. "Who are you?"

"My name is Joshua Sentrium Burns. And you would be...?"

"My name's Herb. What brings you here?" Herb asked. He started to walk along, as if asking Joshua to follow.

He followed him. "I heard rumors of this place, I wanted to see it for myself."

Herb smiled. "That's neat!"

"Indeed." He replied.

Herb led him to the same river where Hugh was, though much further downstream. More spirits were there, happily gpojg about their day.

He noticed the spirits at the river. He immediately took an interest in them. "Hm... Interesting."

Herb snickered. A few more child spirits came to see him, looking at him curiously.

He noticed the chat spirits approach him. "Um... Hi." His Military Equipment (I.E, his Plasma Rifle, Sword Handle, and Jetpack, along with his BFT-HUD) could been seen, btw.

Some of the children stared at his equipment, and backed away skittishly. Others began to float towards where Hugh was.

He tilted his head slightly when some of them backed away. "Is something wrong?"

They shook their heads no, before joining the others going upstream.

He watched as they went upstream. "...I could have sworn that they were afraid something..."

The older spirits were left now, most of them bowing and curtsying politely.

"..Hmm... I see the older ones are still here.. Greetings."

"Greetings!" Many of the spirits waved to him.

He waved slightly back at them. "I am quite curious.. why did the younger ones go ahead upstream when I arrived?"

"I don't know..." One of the ladies responded, trying to spot what they were so excited about. "Huh. I think there's more guests up there. It may not seem like it now, but we rarely get any visitors from the outside."

He thought: "It appears I might not be the only visitor in this forest... Wait..." He asked the lady "Why is it that this forest doesn't get alot of visitors?"

"Very few people know about this forest... or so we thought. It seems like more people are learning about this place lately..." The woman answered.

"I see.... I assume that would be a... Well, not bad, or good thing."

"Exactly. Fortunately, most of the people coming in have been quite friendly." The woman agreed.

"That is a good thing. Let us hope that no one with bad intentions arrives at this forest."

"Thank you..."

"Mhm... Wait, has been past instances where people with bad intentions arrive? And if so, has anyone guarded the forest in its defense?"

The spirit nodded, though she didn't seem to want to talk about it. "Io guarded this forest, fortunately."

"I see... who is this individual named, Io?"

"She's... strange. Back when the mystics lived here, he tried to summon one pf the spirits. He made a mistake with his spell, and instead he gave her flesh. Io's been that way ever since." The woman explained.

"Hm... that is strange.. who is this 'he' that you are referring to?"

"Oh, my bad. One of the mystics, one of their boys. I don't remember his name.... but he was just a young man when that happened."

"Ah.." He went silent, as he has nothing else to say.

The spirits watched the children, laughing occasionally, and some went back to gossiping amongst themselves.

"Well. I wish everyone good fortune." He proceeded to walk away, wanting to explore more of the Forest.

"Bye! You too!" The spirits said, waving goodbye.

He waved goodbye as he departed.

As he continued, he might find a tree bearing a strange fruit. The fruit was shaped like a pear, but had a thick mango-colored peel.

He found the tree with the strange fruit. However, he avoided eating it, Incase if it was poisonous. He did however, pick the fruit off the tree, to have Jkirkian Scientists research it, when he is done with his trip. Unfortunately, he didn't think to bring anything to contain the fruit in (Like a Bag, and stuff like that), so he had to carry it in his hands.

The fruit was actually quite fragrant.

He still kept it in his hands, nonetheless. He kept exploring the forest.

Novo (Closed)
Novo stands on a tree branch and closes his eyes to focus sensing on whatever mysterious force is ahead.

"This energy is unlike any other chakra I sensed...just what is this...?"

(Sorry for the wait reply, everyone. o3o')

(Np, sorry for mine ^^;- Luna)

The energy he was sensing was very balanced and delicate, very peculiar.

Esme (Closed)
Esme is lying in a tree, writing in her journal just outside of a mysterious waterfall.

Esme might soon hear leaves rustling higher up in the tree. It sounded like something was up there...

Esme is suddenly hearing rustling on top of the trees. "Huh? What is...that?" she replied, a little nervous.

Esme might see... something dart from branch to branch. It was hard to tell what it was.

"Uh, someone t-there?" she asks meekly as she sits up.

Then, two people poked their heads out from the leaves, to look at Esme. They were both spirits, two girls. "Hello!"

Esme is at first a little startled but is then relieved when she sees the two girls. "H-Hello there...Um....Pardon me....But, a-are y-you two spirits?" she asks with a shy look on her face.

The two both nod. They look similar, almost like twins. "What's your name?" One of them asked.

"Esme The Hedgecat...." she responds with a meek but cheerful tone in her voice.

Hugh (Closed)
Hugh wandered the forest in hopes to find at least one thing supernatural. Hugh suddenly heard a noise and ran to it. Seconds later Hugh ran into Joshua. "Hey sorry 'bout that."

Joshua was encountered by Hugh, he is surprised. "Whoa. Where did you come from?"

After waiting for a bit for a response for Hugh, but nothing, He walked off, wandering deeper into the Forest.

Hugh quietly pulled out his journal as soon as he saw the creature in hopes of observing it and coming up with a name. But quickly he tripped on a tree stumps and landed in a river in front of Esme.

The river was shallow, and rocky. Spirits were all over the place; some of the children were hovering over him, curiously.

"Hmmm interesting," Hugh suddenly grabbed his journal on the banks of a river and wrote in it. "What are these creatures?" Quickly Hugh fell uncaucious.

An elder spirit came over to Hugh, and shooed away the children. He knelt down next to him, and drew a healing rune in an attempt to wake him up.

Hugh slowly opened his eyes. "What the, whats going on?" The wolf asked.

The spirit sighed in relief. "I think you passed out, lad. Don't worry, we won't bite. What's your name?"

"Hugh Maximoff the wolf, I came here to study the supernatural." Hugh replied.

The spirit chuckled at this. "Well, you came to the right place. My name's Adam."

"Nice to meet you but I have to go."' The wolf said walking away

"I see. Well, have fun!" Adam replied.

Hugh ran to Esme. "Hey Es," Hugh said.

Midnight(Closed)
"The energy is getting more powerful here," Midnight said to himself. "The emerald has to be well deep into this forest. It's energy, however, seems... off. Maybe it's because I haven't slept for a couple of days."

Midnight continued on through the forest, casually jumping off of the sides of the trees with his feet as he reached the center. Then his eye-patch showed an individual perched in a tree. This individual seemed like some type of ninja to Midnight. He stood there, seemingly looking into nothing.

Or is he sensing the energy as I can? He thought. He didn't plan on losing the possible Chaos Emerald to him, so he kept watch over this ninja, and teleported in a taller tree right above him.

Midnight's soul-detecting eye patch begins showing a lot more souls in the vicinity, though they were all very strange. ''What was going on here? This is nothing like the other emeralds at all.''

Midnight looked over at the ninja for a brief moment. I'll be back for you later, he said to himself before letting curiosity show him who these individuals were.

The souls were scattered throughout the forest, "ghosts" if you will. They were all different, boys and girls, of all different species and ages.

Midnight stood there, slightly frustrated that he could not look at these spirits with awe, as he has seen crazier things before. Then an idea popped into his head. Maybe these things could help me find the emerald, but first I need make my presence known. He walked into an open area of the forest, where most if not all the spirits could see him.

And, most of the spirits did see him, though the one who came out of hiding was a bit... different. A living cat stepped out of the underbrush, curiously staring at Midnight with her heterochromic eyes. Now, his eye patch would be showing him something even stranger; two spirits, superimposed one over the other. "Hello..." She greeted him, seeming cautious.

Midnight, eyed this cat suspiciously, confused at what he was seeing.

It can't be an error in my patch, it has the power of Chaos that makes it work... just who exactly are... they? Midnight took a defensive position, but in such a way that it would appear to the average creature would assume he just shifted his weight.

"I need your help," he said to the cat..or cats, while casually placing his left hand over his blaster.

The girl seemed to perk up slightly at this. "Oh? With what?" She asked. She seemed friendly, and peaceful, though she was holding a wooden staff.

Midnight decided not to reveal too much of his plan. "I'm looking for a green gem. I've dropped it somewhere in this forest, and it is very important to me." He watched the staff and the girl, trying to identify the use of the staff as either a third leg or a weapon.

"A green gem...? Alright. I can help with that." The girl replied, in a friendly manner. She didn't lean on her staff at all, so it wasn't a third leg or cane of any sort. "My name is Io, by the way."

This person could be useful... best to play along and hold on to her until I get the emerald, he thought in his head. "Just call me Midnight. Now about that gem..." He sensed the area of chaos energy, and felt that odd yet strong source of energy. "I think it landed somewhere further in that direction," he pointed out.

Io nodded, before letting out a loud whistle, summoning a few other spirits to her side. She quickly gave them directions, before sending them off to scout ahead.

This is working out easier than I expected, Midnight said, lowering his guard and dropping his hand of the pistol. He proceeded to follow Io.

Without another word, Io took off to join the search.

Midnight felt a shift in this chaos energy. ''This HAS to be something worth it, Chaos Emerald or not... However, with these spirits around here, I'm betting this energy is actually something greater... but I can't ask the cat directly, or she'll suspect something.''

"Io, just wondering," he started off, "how long have you been in this forest?"

"This forest? This my home, I've been here my whole life." She explained.

"Is that so?" he exclaimed. This is just perfect. " Well then, have you ever been in the center of the woods before? I've always wanted to see what was there."

"Why, of course. W--I go there all the time." Io responded, calmly, though strangely correcting herself.

Was she about to say "We?" Midnight focused on his eye patch again, and he saw the two souls. Something is up here... I don't know if I should trust her... them... to take me to the emerald. He sensed the area for Chaos energy, and it was getting stronger, so they were reaching whatever was there.'' But the question still remains. Trust her, or not? I'll play along just a bit longer, and snatch the emerald as soon as I can. Something is off here.'' The group finally reached the center of the forest, and Midnight saw...

A large clearing, absolutely covered with glowing runes, and giant plants. Io knelt down, her head bowed. "Miladies? I bring a guest."

I should've expected this coming... better pay my respects before I cause something bad to happen. He bowed down towards Miladies, greeted them, and then he looked up to her with his eye patch and saw two ladies there, both spirits, dressed in very regal attire. They both smiled at the sight of new guests. "Oh, hello darlings." One of them, a fox with angelic wings, greeted them.

"Hello to you as well. This is a beautiful forest you all live in." The outside expression of Midnight was welcoming, aside from the equipment, but on the inside, he was seconds from lashing out from impatience. I don't have time for this, I am too close to this chaos energy to lose it by chatting with these ghosts! He decided to look around for anything glowing, but most of the runes and plants were in the way. He decided to take a different approach.

"I would like to know more about this place while I'm here. Is it okay that I may be showed around?"

"Why, of course! It seems that Io here is already helping with that." The other lady answered, a raven. Then, a couple of the spirits that Io had sent out to search came back, one of them holding the green Chaos Emerald. He bowed to the two mistresses, before proceeding over to Midnight.

Perfect, Midnight thought.'' Once I get my hands on this thing, I need to find a way to leave that is not suspicious, and then I can finally gain all the Chaos Emeralds. Still... these spirits have a lot more than they are letting on. I could possibly find out what was with all that strange Chaos Energy if I probe them enough... maybe take it for myself...''

He began marching towards the spirit with the emerald, and the spirit handed it to him, smiling.

"Thank you, darling." Io said, warmly, before the spirit waved goodbye and floated off.

''One problem solved, and now that I hold this emerald in my hand, I can see that the emerald's energy is normal. I must've confused it for something near the emerald. But what?''

Midnight called back to the spirit. "Thank you for helping me find my gem! Say, do you remember were you had found my gem?"

The spirit boy stopped and thought. "No, I don't. Sorry."

Damn, so close. Then Midnight remembered about the ninja he had seen a while ago. ''Maybe he may be looking for the same thing... but where is he now...''

Novo(Closed)
The ninja-hog opens his eyes and leaps from tree to tree in search for something.

"...now,where's that Genesect Drone...?" he says silently to himself.

Spirits spotted him, and waved as he passed, but did nothing to stop him.

As he was continuously leaping from tree to tree,he then sensed the same peculiar energy coming from the same direction. Curious,he decides to take a detour and sees a gray hedgehog with a chaos emerald after having a conversation with what looked like a spirit.

"...What does he want with a Chaos Emerald...?" he thought.

Midnight and Novo(Closed)
A spirit floated up to Novo, looking him directly in the eyes. This caught the regal ladies' attention. "Oh? What is it- More guests! Please, come here dear, what's your name?" The fox, Lady Tempest, asked invitingly.

Midnight looked over, and realized that the hedgehog he sought for was right there. This actually took him off guard, but he quickly regained it and slowly put his hand over his pistol in case this blue hedgehog struck. Then he remembered... ''My parents were killed by a stealthy blue hedgehog... could this be him? He seems too young, and the blue is more russian blue than navy blue, but then again, the enhancement experiment makes me look young and change my fur greyish as well. I need more proof that he is the ninja I think he is before acting.''

Midnight began walking towards Novo.

Novo then shifted his attention towards the spirit, and asked, "Can I help you?" Then he noticed the Vixen's(she-fox) and the gray hedgehog's attention were on him as well.

" or...help you all...?

As Midnight approached Novo, his anger about his parent's death clouded his judgement once again. He didn't take in the fact that the assailant shot his parents to death, and that Novo had no normal gun on him. He saw the clothing of Novo was similar to the killer, and how his pose and body represented a a person with experience with battle. He took in his gear, then look at his face again. It's him, Midnight thought, it HAS to be him this time. I'll pummel this bastard into the ground! Midnight grabbed his hand on the pistol, trigger finger ready, and was about to pull it out of its holster.

Novo,apparently seeing the hedgehog's hand on the gun,raised his hands in a calm and defensive manner.

"Whoa pal,let's not immediately go into violence. I don't know who you are and you don't know who I am,so it wouldn't make sense to just attack one another. Let's just relax..."

Midnight hesitated. ''I confused the assailant for Sonic once. Could this be another incident?'' The gun shook in his hand for just a second...

...Then his thoughts reached a conclusion...

No! Lightning doesn't strike the same place twice! As he pointed the gun towards Novo with astounding speed, he faltered. ''Still... could this truly be him?''

Io threw herself between Novo and Midnight, hoping to keep this from becoming violent. "Wait! What's going on here?" She asked both of them.

Midnight muttered under his breath. "Bastard... I'll kill you..." His eyes stared at Novo as if they were staring into his soul... which is actually true.

Novo then sighed at the current situation and replied. "Look, whoever this 'bastard' is that did this to you wasn't me. And I have something to ask to all of you..." he said requiring attention from Io,Midnight,Tempest, and the spirits that gathered. "...have any of you seen a red-eyed robot around here that had a cannon on its back?"

Midnight, still hesitant, kept the gun pointed at Novo but did't fire. He flicked his eyes to Io, expecting an answer from her since he hasn't seen anything like it.

Io would answer Novo later; right now she had to make sure nobody got hurt. "Wait, Midnight! Please, what is the reason for this?" Io asked, pleadingly, making sure that she was between Novo and that gun.

Midnight hesitated again, this time the gun noticeably shaking in his hand and faltering. After a moment of silence like this, Midnight said quietly with a reluctant tone, "Io, I'm going to say it once... get out of the way."

Io shook her head, noticing his resistance. "See, you don't want to do this either. There will be no violence on these grounds, so please just put it away."

"If you don't move, I'll have to kill you with him."

"But why? Why must a life be forfeit? Would it make you feel better, or will it haunt you for the rest of your life? I insist- put. Down. The weapon." Io ordered.

"Would it haunt me? If killing haunted me, my day dreams would be day-nightmares." Midnight stared at the cat for a few more seconds. Eventually, Midnight finally calmed down before finally putting the gun in its holster. "And by a life, you mean two lives, don't you? Or should I say don't you all?"

Io slowly nodded, relieved that the gun was put away. "Indeed."

"You want me to start talking? You start first. Who are you? What are you?"

Io looked up at him, her heterochromic eyes fixated. "We are Io. We are two spirits given life. We are trapped, working together to get anything accomplished. We are the protectors of these sacred grounds."

Midnight relaxed a bit, but was still tensed up about the situation, and refuses to look at Novo. "There's nothing sacred here but a bunch of dead tree hippies. This doesn't explain why you hid the fact that you are a 'we'."

Io sighed. "Maybe so. We usually act as one around outsiders, so that was merely force of habit."

Midnight glanced at the emerald. In the very end, this was why he was here, but the possibility that Novo is the killer is still there. Midnight easily faked the nice personality. Who says he couldn't possibly be faking it as well? "Either way, I got what I wanted, and it seems that I can't trust anyone here..." he glared at Io, then to Novo. "We aren't done. Consider our meeting postponed." He picked up the emerald and was about to use Chaos Control.

Io sighed in relief, before her superiors broke the silence. "Io..." The other royal, Selene, started. "There has been a strange surge of visitors as of late. I want you to introduce yourselves to them. The visionaries told me that the closest one is an overlander with green hair, off in that direction. Now go." Selene explained, pointing Io in the right direction. Io bowed her head, and took off without another word.

Midnight took one last glance at Novo. If I have to destroy the forest to get you, I will. "CHAOS CONTROL!" In reality, he teleported to a far away mountain that still had sight of the forest. A s far as everyone could initially see, Midnight was gone.

Novo then sighed again and turned away.

"Welp, looks like no one seen 'em yet. Best get going..." he then lifts his two fingers as he shrouds in a tornado and disappears.

(I apologize for the late reply...again)

Hugh, Esme, and Midnight (Closed)
"Nice to meet you!" The spirits responded in sync, before they noticed Hugh. "Huh? Who's that?"

Esme turned to see Hugh and waved to him as she then wrote in her journal. "Oh, hey Hugh! Long time, no see!"

"Seems you encountered the forest spirits." Hugh said.

The twin girls waved to Hugh before dissapearing higher into the tree.

Hugh pulled out his journal and wrote a page on forest spirits based on observations.

He might notice that there are many different types of these spirits, all pf which dressed and acted differently.

Esme also decides to write in her journal based on her observations so far.

She then saw something glowing with a small white column of light into the distance and her eyes widened. "Wait, what is that?" she thinks to herself and she jumps up, a little startled.

(Wait, what was that supposed to be? Midnight's Chaos Control?)

(Yep! XD)

The spirit twins were still above them, and watched the sight with intrigue.

Esme then decides to walk over towards the column of light. "I wonder what happened...Hmm...Wait a second!" she thinks in alarm as she pulls out Komerl's Cosmic Emerald as it reacts to the area.

The energy from the pillar of light was chaos energy for sure, but the energy all around them wasn't quite the same...

Esme decides to then head over to the area with the pillar of light until the emerald starts to also be engulved in a light blue light, causing Komerl to pop out.

More spirits were nearby, and they seemed shocked by Komerl's sudden appearance.

Somewhere off in the distance, Midnight had changed up his regular suit of gear.

I'll make sure this guy won't be able to hide in the forest, he thought as he made sure the flammable liquid for his flamethrower was full. With the power of Chaos added to it, it could possibly even have the chance to burn spirits, but one thing's for sure, this forest will burn. He checked his napalm grenades, then grabbed a few proximity mines before leaving.

''As far as I know from my memory, this guy is fast. I'm not taking any chances. With my Chaos Cape, I can have a better advantage for that speed, he said as he put it on. With the emergency ice grenades on my side as well, this should be enough to last against the forest''. Midnight then proceeded to placing down traps in the forest, hiding the green emerald in a secret location. Using his cape, he teleported back to the forest planting traps in various locations, only to suddenly realize that more souls were in the area than expected.

Spirits quickly noticed these traps, and started to inspect them to see if there was any way to get rid of them. Unfortunately, the majority of the spirits couldn't interact with physical objects, and the ones that could were too afraid to tamper with the mines. If the trees here were destroyed, many of the spirits would be killed as well.

Midnight analyzed the situation, covering himself with his cape to go completely invisible. Damn, I knew I had thought this out too quickly. If they warn the people who are actually living that can trigger the mines, this will cause problems. He took a moment to think this out....

... If that happens, I'll just resort to incinerating them all with hellfire. He continued on, looking for Novo while watching the Esme and Hugh, making sure they don't find out anything too soon.

The spirits seemed to figure out a plan. One of them let out a loud whistle, summoning more, messenger spirits to their side. "Alright, we have a lot of ground to cover." She looked at the spirits one by one, telling them where to go. "Aspen, alert the Ladies, let them know what is happening. Next, Michel, go warn Io, and bring her here. You three, alert any guests in the forest. Get them all out of here. Everyone else, gather every spirit that can make a shield. I have a plan." The messenger spirits all nodded, before disappearing off into the woods.

The whistle had also drew the attention of Midnight, and he eavesdropped on their conversation. ''Guess it's too late to start quiet. The real search for Novo begins.'' The Midnight pulls out a box, flips open a glass lid, and presses a red button.

Joshua Zephyrius (Closed)
All of a sudden, a green-haired man emerged from thin air after a warpdrive sequence. He skid across the grassy field in the midst of the forest's clearing. After he finally stopped, he looked around to see where he is.

"Hmm," he mouthed. "It seems there was an interference in the sequence." He took a better look around him. The healthy trees, the dancing grass, and the soothing sound of the winds captured his attention. "Nevertheless, I shall stay awhile. Speaking of which, this area is awfully familiar..."

A few spirits were hiding in the trees, watching him carefully, until suddenly something rustled in the underbrush nearby. A short figure was there, a mobian cat.

Becoming aware of the ethereal presence around him, he felt a slight sense of nostalgia. When he heard the rustle, he turned to the underbush in reflex. Coincidentally, his glowing cyan eyes sighted the Mobian cat in first glance. His eyes widened slightly, as if he had met such an entity behind him.

"Hello?" The cat greeted him, in a rather shy manner.

Part 3
Screams erupted throughout the forest, as the blazing fire was starting to spread. The spirits were in pain. All of these spirits were connected to the forest, so if the trees and flora died, so did they.

Amanda and Grief (Closed)
"Uhhh, aunt Amanda! W-we have a problem!" Grief said as he rushed into the room.

"What is it, dearie?" She asked.

"The forest is on fire!" Grief exclaimed

"Merda!" She let out as she rushed to see what was happening.

Indeed, the forest was burning, but it didn't seem to be spreading towards the cabins just yet. The spirit thst had come to see them had collapsed, in pain.

"What's happening?!?" Amanda asked as she helped up the spirit.

"Forest... burning... please, get out of here..." The spirit choked out.

"What do we do aunt Amanda?"

"Dearie, it is being the time to use powers of yours." Amanda told him.

"You don't mean?"

"Si, become the giant."

The spirit passed out, before fading away.

"She's gone..." Grief replied in shock.

"si, and more will join her if we don't hurry!"

Both of them proceeded to exit the cabin, as Grief did he grew giant and then Amanda turned into a dragon. She flew up while Grief, grew up. Both of them then proceeded to scan around the forest for the fire.

But, just as they started looming around, they would have felt raindrops; the rain picked up, quickly extinguishing most of the normal flames. Still, there was a hit left, Midnight's chaos flames, which were unaffected.

"Dearie, be putting out flame over there!" The now dragon with a female voice ordered the now giant child.

"Right!" The giant kid said as he stomped towards the last patch of land.

Before he could get there, the chaos flames were put out by Midnight's ice bombs.

Joshua
Meanwhile, Joshua was still within the boundaries of the forest, only now within a different area than he had been in before, he seems to be exploring the forest still.

Spirits casually waved to him as he passed, seemingly happy to have company.

As he passed by spirits, he occasionally waved back at them as we continued on with his exploration.

Hugh, Komerl and Esme (Closed)
Esme seems to be a little surprised when Komerl suddenly appeared in a flash of light from the emerald.

Komerl then greeted her by saying, "Hey...." with a friendly and bright grin.

Esme then asked him with a small blush, "Wait, what are you d-doing here? I-I thought you...supposed t-to w-wake up..."

"Until the month is up?" he says, finishing up the question and pats his quills down. "Yeah, with all of the energy I sensed earlier, I guess I woke up sooner than usual."

Komerl then suddenly sensed Midnight's chaos energy and was a little worried when he saw the fire blazing nearby.

"Esme, I think you should hide....I sensed someone else and I don't think he's friendly...." he says to Esme as he starts to absorb all of flames. He then lightly kisses Esme on the cheek as he then gestures for her to hide.

He then wonders where Hugh is.

Seeing Komerl's selfless help, the spirits were happy to lead Esme away from danger, with what little strength they had left.

Shrugging off the thought, he decides to help the spirits seeing as they were helping him.

Komerl then uses the full extent of his pyrokenesis to absorb the flames around the surrounding areas that were burning.

However, he fell into an unconscious state due to overexerting his body.

Seeing this, more spirits took Komerl away with Esme, so they could get a healer for him. They were all shouting for a healer as the party of spirits left the forest, and went out into the grassy areas outside.

Esme seems to look at Komerl with concern as she just went along with the spirits to find a healer.

"Come on, wake up....."

Meanwhile, Komerl seems to be experiencing a vision again as he muttered some words. "Forest.....Fire....Hedgehog.....Ruben......Power.......Fight....No, stop.....No more...."

The spirits listened carefully, some of them in shock. "What's going on?" One of them asked Esme, nervously.

Esme then explains that whenever he is asleep or something is about to happen, he gets visions of what could happen.

"Wow..." The spirits were awestruck.

Komerl was starting to wince a little from the overexertion.

"Is he gonna be alright?" One of the other spirits asked.

"I-I don't know.....He usually doesn't absorb that m-much..." Esme replied to the spirit with her eyes glancing at Komerl.

Suddenly, a lady spirit floated up to them, motioning to the others to set him down. They had reached the grassy areas outside the forest. Without any delay, the spirit made a healing rune around Komerl.

Komerl seems to regain some energy but doesn't wake up yet....

Esme then turns to the lady spirit in surprise and asks, "Um, w-who are you, m-miss?"

"My name's Esther. Nice to meet you, miss." The spirit replied, warmly.

"M-My name is Esme...Nice to meet you too." Esme then replies with a gentle smile.

It is at this moment Komerl begins to wake up. "Ugh...Wha?"

Esme then exclaims as Komerl gets up. "D-Don't do that again....I w-was worried for a second there...."

Komerl then rubs the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Sorry about that but, uh..."

He then turns pale at the sight of the female spirit. "W-What in the world? Who are you? You're not here to steal my soul right, right?"

Esme then giggles and she answers his question. "No, Esther isn't here to steal your soul. She actually is the one that healed you."

Komerl blinks and he took in her answer. "Uh huh. Thanks, Esther....Um, where am I?"

He then looks up and looks at his surroundings.

(I think you should put this in the Part 4 section? It would just make more sense...)

(If you want me to, I will. ^^; -Luna)

Midnight (Closed)
Midnight saw the spirits all in pain, and it actually shocked him. ''They really are connected to the forest. I could use this as blackmail later on... considering the fact that I don't burn the whole forest down.'' He turned to a shift in the air, and saw a green fellow in the flames, running toward the cat he had seen. ''If Io is there, Novo can't be far. Time to start moving while everyone is distracted.'' He continued on his path.

Water elemental spirits were already starting to fight the flames, but they were barely even containing the large fire. Casually getting under his cape for invisibility, Midnight then ignited those trees with his flamethrower. However, with him holding the flamethrower, the fire became supernatural, and did not require oxygen to burn, rendering water useless. He then proceeded on.

It was a visionary spirit, who was busy trying to pinpoint where the fire was spreading fastest, so the elementals could prioritize. He was moving his hands in specific patterns, and faint glowing strings appeared and dissapeared as he went. The strings were connecting to anything nearby, and eventually one of the strings that appeared connected to Midnight. The spirit turned to look straight at him the split second this happened, apparently knowing he was there.

Impressive, he thought before swinging his sword, launching chaos spears in the direction of the spirit.

The spirit dodged one, only to get hit with another. The spirit screamed in pain, starting to dissolve into nothingness.

Okay Io, thought Midnight, let's start breaking each and every one of your fingers until you tell me where Novo is. He turned left and marched on, entering the very center of the forest, where he had last seen Io.

However, warrior spkrits were blocking the path, seemingly protecting whatever was inside. He might see past them, however, was Lady Tempest, making an extremely large rune.

''I shouldn't continue using to use the chaos flames. I'll end up predictable. Maybe...'' He teleported back to his base for a quick moment, and turned around to realize some fires were disappearing rather quickly (Komerl). ''Hrmm, possibly more spirits. I'll grabbed my gear before heading towards him.'' And he went for his back up gear, his liquid nitrogen grenades, his decoy grenades, and a controller for a piece of stolen technology... and then he looked back at the forest.

Suddenly, a massive rain cloud had formed, dousing the normal flames and leaving only the hellfire to be dealt with. Still, the normal flames did 95% of the burning.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" He yelled. "You know what, screw the controller! I'm controlling this thing HEAD-ON!" He said as he got into the stolen vehicle. With him in control, it was now considered a Chaos Helicopter. Luckily for He headed straight for the center of the forest.

The helicopter would probably be hard to pilot amidst the storm, but it would still work regardless. The spirits didn't seem to have noticed the heli just yet.

''I've never attacked a spirit, and I have no idea if I can. However, it seems that killing the trees kills them in the process. Hopefully, if I'm thinking correctly, killing enough trees will stop those spirit guards.'' Midnight pointed the helicopter to a dense spot in the forest where the fire was last taken out. ''You want to get rid of the fire? Let me help help you''.... and he readied a gun on the helicopter... this was no ordinary conventional weapon...

As Midnight was looking down at the forest, he could probably see that the damage done was severe. Spirits were scattered through the extinguished, but now charred area, looking for any surviving spirits, weeping openly as they mourned their fallen comrades.

This isn't what I wanted, he realized as his judgement cleared up,'' I've done it again. First with Sonic, now with that ninja... I'm hurting people who aren't even defending him to begin with... still, he could be who I'm looking for...''

After some thought, Midnight decided to release this secret weapon later, and landed the helicopter away. Reluctantly, he teleported back to the forest, and used his chaos ice bombs to take out the hellfire.

Midnight, he told himself,'' if you want to find him, you'll find him on foot. I will not repeat the same incident with the Freedom Fighters.'' He took his cape, gone invisible, and walked through the charred forest, shock at how far he had gone from his goal.

As he walked along, he would see and hear the spirits crying, and feel the rain falling on his head. It was a somber scene, without a doubt.

He knew that until he found Novo, what he had done needed to be amended. The first chance he had to fix take responsibility for it was when he crossed the corner, and in the far distance, he saw two souls in one body...

He would also see more people there; a human figure, a hedgehog, and a strange-looking humanoid creature.

Midnight, Amanda, and Grief
Suddenly, Midnight's thoughts were interrupted by a loud stomping sound, and the ground shaking.

What the hell? Midnight turned around and checked his eye patch, only to see a soul of massive size, and another soul that is not the shape of its body. Rather, the shape was that of a dragon.

Oookay... Sensing this as a threat, Midnight drawn out his sword, and was ready to strike if something happened.

Grief proceeded towards the last burning patch of forest, followed in the sky by his aunt Amanda in her dracowitch form. He then proceeded to take a huge breath and then blow at the forest in an attempt to put the fires out.

Meanwhile Amanda flew above and casted a water spell to provide air support to the gigantic child.

Midnight teleported to the top of the canopy to see the giant fox. He was actually impressed that there wasn't just one person on this planet that could increase their size. Midnight was well within their sights now.

"Huh? Who's that?" Grief said as she caught him in his gigantic eyes.

"I don't know, maybe one of spirits?" Amanda replied.

"Maybe." The giant said as he shrugged.

Seeing that the two did not attack, Midnight slightly lowered his sword. He quickly darted over the canopy until he was 30 feet away. His attire was more noticeable now.

"And may I ask who are you?" He yelled.

"I'm Grief!" The giant said loudly.

"E I be Amanda." The dragon said

"We be trying to put out the forest fires to be saving forest spirits." Amanda stated.

How many people were in this forest, he thought to himself. I would've been fighting an entire army by myself... again. He decided to use their bird eye views. "Do you guys see any supernatural flames out there? I need to take out the rest of them."

"They look normal to me." The giant replied.

"Si, I would know if they were not normal flame but supernatural flame." The dragon said an a rather thick Eurishian like accent.

''What? There's no way that the Chaos Flames have disappeared.'' "Do you mind if I can come up and get a view for myself?"

"Uhh, sure." Grief said as the giant nodded.

Midnight ran up the giant within three seconds, and was instantly on Grief's forest. He looked off in the distance.

"Tee hee, tickles." The giant child said as he couldn't help but grin and give out a loud chuckle.

He couldn't see any fire, but he could see dark smoke possibly from still existing fires, and nearly half of the forest charred or completely burnt. Looking further, he could see Io and the people she was with again in his eye patch. He began wondering if Novo was among the crowd. Thinking the Grief and Amanda would try to stop him from coming for Novo, he made up an excuse to leave.

"Well... I guess I should check out the smoke just in case.... thanks for your help!" He said as he prepared to jump off the giant.

"No problem!" Grief said.

"Bene" Amanda replied.

Midnight leaped off and glided over Io's group and landed in a tree nearby.

"Nice landing!" Grief responded with.

"Si!" Amanda replied with.

Checking the eye patch to stay on track, Midnight realized something was off... something was there, but it wasn't showing up on his eye patch. ''Is this another robot? ''He thought. Only one way to find out since he didn't bring his backup goggles, and that was to get down close. He had no idea if the robot would notice him with its scanners or not, but it was a chance he was willing to take since he was already a fugitive of the forest. While doing this, he didn't even bother asking Grief and Amanda to join, nor did he say goodbye to them. His only intention was to get to the group that Io was with to find out if Novo was a part of it or not, and he bolted towards the group.

"Hey! Where you going?" Grief blurted out rather loudly.

"Merda! Not so loud mio nepote!" Amanda replied to Grief's booming voice.

"Sorry aunt Amanda..." Grief apologized.

"Bene, now we shall be following this one..." Amanda said as she flew off.

"Hey, wait for me!" Grief said as he stomped off.

Well I guess we're all going to meet Io, he thought as he continued on the path. He leaped down under the canopy of the forest, where he was now 30 meters away from Io and... ''wait, what are those other people fighting? It's not showing up on my eye patch... Possibly something nonliving?'' He turned his back to see if Amanda and Grief were actually following him.

Amanda flew above the treelines as she was still in her dracowitch form. Meanwhile a giant sized Grief was pushes treetops out of his face as he moved through the forest slowly.

"Stupid trees..." Grief said as he pushed yet another one out.

"Wouldn't it be easier to walk around smaller?" Midnight asked. "Or can you not get smaller?"



"Nooooo, I cover more distance. Oh and yes, I can. I just don't want to." The child replied in a rather condescending tone

Midnight shrugged at this. He assumed that's how children were supposed to act. Just to mess with Grief for fun, he increased the pace if his travelling speed.

"Hey! Wait up!" Grief said as he stomped harder.

Midnight stopped when he felt a tremendous release of Chaos energy, and suddenly saw a large army appear out of nowhere. ''Well... I guess these two could provide help, in case that army is after me.''

"Something's going on over there, do you think we should go see what;s going on?"

"I guess." Grief replied.

"Alright then... I got a test for you. How far can you throw a hedgehog?"

"A lot farther than you can throw yourself." Grief replied as he grinned.

"Let's see then..." Midnight leapt up, and landed into the palm of Griefs hand. "Ready when you are!"

Grief then pushes Midnight in to curl him into a ball. He then looks at where he is supposed to be throwing him and makes a baseball pitching pose with his left foot and leg protruded upward before he gives it a tremendous toss as if Midnight were his baseball.

"TRY TO KEEP UP!" He yelled as he went soaring. to keep the altitude he was on, he spread his cape to glide over the entire forest.

Joshua Zephyrius (Closed)
Joshua's attention was diverted because he heard the screams around him. He smelled the scent of fire charring the plant life in its path. "Fire?" When he saw that the fire was close to their area, he looked back at Io and hurriedly ran toward her, attempting to take her away from the impending danger.

Io was in pain, like the other spirits, but she also seemed intent on staying. She had to go see if there was a way to stop this.

"Are you all right, milady?" Joshua asked her. He reached out his right hand to her.

Io weakly stumbled into his arms. "No... If this forest dies, we will die with it..."

Joshua closed his eyes for a moment and opened them back. "Worry not, milady," he spoke. "I shall find a way to restore this forest." He carried her to his back with a piggyback ride, seeing there is no choice for him to set her in a more comfortable position. "We shall go to the cabins and take some respite. Afterwards, we will make plans to restore the forest. Yet I sure forgot where they are. Would you mind if you show me the way?"

"The c-cabins aren't far..." Io answered, motioning to Joshua's left. She seemed to be getting a little bit better, now that the fire was being put out by the rain.

"I see, I remember where to go," said to Joshua. He gazed upon the east of his person and attempted to walk towards that direction.

Novo
As he still went off on searching for the Genesect Drone and to no avail,he decides to take a different approach, until the scent of smoke and flames reached his nose.

"Fire,but why here? Unless it's a wildfire or...." his thoughts went back to his encounter with Midnight and his weapon at first glance.

'Judging by his attire and weaponry,mercenaries use anything by means necessary,so that would mean...'

But as he thought about how the incident occurred,he then shifted his thoughts of stopping the fire. He then clasps his hands together and closes his eyes.He focuses on water dripping. As he does this,thick clouds appeared out of the sky and rain began to fall. The rain starts dousing the flames.While rain still continues to fall, Novo then goes back to his regular agenda of finding that Drone,while also thinking of solving this accusation issue once he was done.

The storm seemed to be even stronger, as if someone else had summoned a storm too. The fire went out rather quickly, but many of the spirits' lives had been lost.

Ruben (Closed)
An orange fur hedgehog is on the ground very damaged. He wakes up in the middle of flames. He concentrates and using his robotic arm's powers, he extinguishes the flames around him, falling to the ground from exhaustion. "Where am I?"

He might start to hear distant voices, getting closer. "Hey, there's a survivor! Someone's here!" It sounded like a young boy. The boy came over to Ruben, looking him over. He was a spirit, transparent and ghost-like.

"A spirit...?" He passes out. He has a giant number of wounds and is extremely exhausted.

When Ruben woke up, he was in a grassy area, tended to by more of the spirits. He would notice, he'd been healed by something or someone.

"Hum... Thanks... Who are you? Where am I?"

"My name's Jimmy. This is the Ether Forest!" The boy from earlier responded.

"Well, near it." Another voice responded, an old man. "Just call me Adam. You were pretty beaten up, kiddo, what happened?"

"What happened?" Ruben started to have flashbacks from when he was fighting himself from other dimension. ''"How did I lost?! I killed everyone up until him! My father, my enemies, even my friends!" ''He stands up and shouts. "How could I lose?!" He falls. "I don't understand... Wait... What is the Ether Forest?"

"The Ether Forest is where we live." Jimmy answered.

"I've heard little stories about it when I was a child. Spirits that protected the forest... I never thought it was real..." It was the first time Ruben felt guilt by all the sins he had done. "Wait, if the forest's real, that means Io is too, right?"

"Yes, absolutely." Adam answered.

''"This is it. My childhood dream. I've done so many mistakes in life, so much blood that was on my hands... But I'll correct myself." Ruben stood up. ''"Take me to her, please." "How can a stupid little book inspire me to correct myself? I don't know, but I'll gain true strenght, the one he was talking about. 'Love' was it? Let's find out."

"We would, but we don't know where she is... and we're caught up in a disaster right now." Jimmy explained, gesturing towards the charred swath of forest behind them.

Ruben watched the burned areas. "If I use my Impossible Speed Mode and can extinguish all the flames in seconds, but I'm gonna pass out again..." ''Ruben asked himself if he really wanted to help the forest. He could use the ISM to find Io, talk to her and then it's all ended. But something inside of him shined telling him he needed to save the forest. ''"I'll use my Impossible Speed Mode." He looks to the screen on his robotic arm. "I have time to extinguish all the flames, but then I can't use it for hours, so if the forest starts burning again, I can't help, OK?" Ruben asked Adam.

Then, Ruben might feel a couple raindrops on his head. It started to rain, putting out most of the remaining fire right then and there. "I think we've got it covered, kiddo." Adam replied. "Thanks, though."

"Now, I wanna figure out who started this whole thing. There's no way that fire started by itself, not if it spread so fast..." Jimmy wondered.

"Don't worry, Jimmy. I'm gonna find the bastard who started the fire. But first... Io... I need to find her for a reason... Bye." Ruben turned Super and flew away, landing in a spot of the forest. He was near Hugh, Komerl, Esme and Midnight, as his scanner was sensing. "People... High powered... I don't have time for this. Wait! What if someone in this scanner is the fire putter?!" He watches his scanner that was telling that to the north-west was three persons (Hugh, Komerl and Esme) and to the north-east, in the air, was just one (Midnight). "Three or one? Is more probable that a group would set the fire... Let's go then!" Ruben starts running in his normal form to Hugh, Komerl and Esme's direction. "I'll find the culprit... Adam and Jimmy... What is this I am feeling? Friendship? Does such thing exist? Well, whatever, let's continue!"

To the west, his scanner would show him two more people (Joshua and Io).

"Wait!" Two more people appeared on the scanner, but one was incredibly high leveled (Io). ''"It must be the fire putters!" ''Ruben stopped, turned Super and flew as fast as possible to the west, where Joshua and Io were.

Ruben, Joshua Zephyrius, and Io (Closed)
Upon arriving, Ruben would see Joshua carrying Io; Io still looked very weak.

As soon as he could see them, he pointed his robotic arm to them while charging his hand cannon. "Who are you two?! Are you the fire putter?! If yeah... PREPARE TO DIE!" Ruben was so angry and he even didn't knew why. ''"I must protect this forest. I know I'll find answers for my future." ''Ruben thought a bit on his actions and turned off his cannon. Then he looked at Io. "Are you alright? Need help?"

"No need," Joshua told him. He was stern towards strangers at the first encounter. His austere aura and a noble bearing might be intimidating for starters. "I shall take care of this maiden." He looked at Ruben in great observation. "One thing I ask of you before I find respite, stranger. Are you resolute enough to protect this place?"

Ruben could feel his aura, but then again, he killed basically every Mobian in his Universe. He asked himself if he really wanted to protect the forest and said: "Yes. My main goal now is to protect this forest with my life and meet Io. I need to find her. I need answers..." "Can she really tell me what is friendship and love? Can I really be worthy of her presence?"

''Joshua looked at the weakened Io on his back. However, he merely kept quiet about her identity. "You seem to be determined for an anthropomorph." He walked to the left and said, "Come with me, then."''

Ruben nodded and followed him. "If this guy tries to betray me, I'll kill him."

''Without turning his neck, Joshua's cold eyes glanced towards Ruben, seeming that he had read his mind as a natural-born telepath. However, he did not react to this and continued to walk with him to the cabins that Io pinpointed for him. "What is your name, stranger?" he asked Ruben whilst looking at him with the same atmosphere.''

"My name?" ''"Why should I trust him? The hypothesis of him being the fire putter isn't out... But something tells me to trust him." ''"The name's Ruben. Ruben The Hedgehog. And yours?"

"I am Joshua Zephyrius of a distant world," Joshua replied formally. "My precognition tells me you have a reason as to why you have appeared here of all places."

"Nice question. I think... My heart did it? I remember..." Ruben gets flashbacks in Universe 7 when he was about to die, he wished that he could teleport to somewhere save and activated the Universe Booster, teleporting him to the forest. "I can't really explain how I'm here... I'm sorry."

"No need to grace it further. You have spoken enough," Joshua spoke, whilst still walking towards the location of the cabins. He stopped for a while when he heard an audible rustle on the grass.

Ruben positioned himself into a fighting pose, closing his eyes, to hear more carefully.

A stream of electricity from one of the trees was directed towards Ruben and Joshua. Reacting swiftly to this, Joshua's eyes glowed cyan. "Dodge!" he spoke as he jumped away from the stream in high speeds. "Tch, if I were not carrying her..."

Ruben turned and grabbed the electricity with his robotic arm, recharging him a bit. He did all of this with his eyes closed. He then opened his eyes. ''"Who is attacking us and why?" ''"Joshua, are you alright? How's the girl?"

A well-built humanoid with cyan eyes and crystalline violet scales charged from the shadows towards Ruben. "Out of the way, imbecile!" he chanted as it grew a blade-like spine from each of his wrists and swung at him.

Ruben dodged trying to swing a punch in the opponent's face. "Take this!"

Using its free left wrist, it swung its blade-like spine sideways to his right, perpendicular to the trajectory of the fist as a means to clash with the attack.

Joshua might notice Io slowly getting off of his back. She grabbed her staff, pointing it at the humanoid. "Stop! Who are you?!?" Io asked, trying to act like she had authority though she was still weak.

"Milady, get back," Joshua advised her. "If you can cast your runes, I will hold him off if he gets too near."

Ruben took advantage of the humanoid taking attention to Io and used... "Swift Punch!"

The humanoid was focused on attacking Ruben from the get-go. Regardless of his next move, he might have parried Ruben's fist back then with his sharp spine. As such, there is a probability that Ruben's hand will be wounded from the parry if his hand was not mechanical and if he redirected his fist back then.

(Josh: Oh, before that move, Enervar, you should have focused on the humanoid's counterattack. I did not even write that the humanoid took attention to Io. I think you can see what I am referring to, right? ^^ And I will be back tomorrow probably 8:30 AM UTC +8.)

Io nodded, moving back as she was told. She started working on a rune to trap the humanoid. She refused to attack, and knew she was too weak to attack anyways.

Ruben damaged his hand and was attacked by the humanoid's counterattack. "If this continues, I'm gonna get tired again and die... But I need to find Io, no matter what... SO I WILL NOT QUIT!" Ruben starts charging is energy turning into his Hyper Form.

"What, Airion, are you gonna keep him in suspense?"

"Not much longer, Celeste. Now, if you'd let me focus..."

Joshua, noticing the early ascension, thought to himself, "Does he really need to ascend to subdue the enemy?" He charged towards the humanoid which was in turn charging towards Hyper Ruben. Strangely, Joshua's right hand was not clutching anything even though his fist is slightly clenched.

Hyper Ruben used his speed for going to the humanoid's behind and restrain him from movement, so Joshua could attack him easily. (Similar to what Goku did to Raditz so Piccolo could attack him)

Io finished up her rune, and tapped the center of it with her staff, causing the tip of the staff to crackle with energy. She then took aim at the humanoid, waiting for an opening.

Hyper Ruben hold the humanoid tight, waiting to the rune to hit him. "C'mon! I can dodge it!"

"No! Move!" Io shouted at him, staring right into his eyes. Her eyes. Certainly, if the stories Ruben had heard mentioned Io, they would have noted her strange heterochromic eyes. One light grey, one light blue; behind them, something timeless.

It was the first time he looked her in the eyes. "Io..." Hyper Ruben let go of him and went to Io's side. "You are real..."

As soon as Ruben moved, Io carefully fired her shot.

Ruben turned normal. "Is this girl really Io? I... Have to protect her by all means!"

"What, is something the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost." Io asked, chuckling in spite of herself.

The humanoid was about to move his feet but he was trapped by the rune Io set up. "Curses!"

Joshua, taking advantage of the opening, tightly clenched his right hand. A veil of wind surrounded it and circulated inside his palm. He thrust his arm towards the humanoid in great speeds, causing a long object seemingly made of light to be thrust towards it. Some of the humanoid's torso scales released sparks and combusted upon sharp contact. It was knocked back in great pain, realizing that its scales were easily scraped off albeit made of a highly durable material.

"Ghh...! Not that again!" the humanoid grunted. It was lying on the ground, struggling to get up.

Joshua was holding a sword made of light in one hand. The weapon quickly materialized into a diamond broadsword with runic markings on the blade and an emerald on its hilt. Joshua brandished his broadsword, releasing a strong current of wind in their area. The trees swayed in obedience to the winds. The little amount of fire around their area was being extinguished, leaving only the small patches of hellfire slightly far from their area.

The humanoid braced itself from the strong current of wind. "The Geh'amm... Scwaerand...!"

(Josh, Io's rune was to make a trap when it hit the humamoid, not hurt him.)

(Josh: Thanks. Changed it.)

Io sighed in relief, knowing that she had hit her target, despite fact that her trap was not used as she intended. Suddenly, she felt weak again, and collapsed to the ground. The rune had used up most if the energy she had recovered, leaving her back where she started.

He looked at the now unconscious Io. "You have my humble thanks, milady," he thought. The winds were still whipping through the area.

Ruben started carring Io on his arms. "Don't worry about her, I'll protect her. Defeat that bastard."

"Thank... you..." Io replied, weakly, not unconscious yet but just weak.

Ruben kissed her forehead and smiling, he said: "Don't worry, we are going to protect you." He then went serious looking at Josh and the humanoid.

Io then slipped into unconsciousness.

Ruben taking advantage of the fight ran with Io. ''"Why am I running? Shouldn't I be helping Josh? Well, too late for that. First I need to take care of Io. I think I saw some houses here or something." ''Ruben then turns Super and flies swiftly to a safe zone with Io.

Ruben and Io (Closed)
A couple of spirits followed Ruben, out of curiosity. They were concerned about Io too.

''"Sorry, Josh. I hope you come back with life." ''Ruben turns to the spirits. "Where's a place I can help her?"

One of the spirits, a teen girl, piped up. "I can help, but let's bring her to the cabins first. This way!" She then went ahead to show Ruben the way to the cabins.

Ruben follows her to the cabins. Then he puts Io in a safe place to rest. "Will she be OK?"

"She'll be fine. Just let me do one thing..." The spirit replied, before kneeling over Io, drawing a healing rune around her.

Ruben waited patiently for Io's recovery.

After about 10 minutes, Io woke up, sitting bolt upright as if she had been startled awake.

Ruben returned, he had been patrolling the area for more enemies. "It looks like you woke up. Here." Ruben hands her some fruits he had in his inventory.

"Oh, thank you..." Io replied, taking one of the fruits and trying a bite. Having rarely left the forest, the kind was unfamiliar to her.

"You aren't quite different from what the book describes you. Well, you look more gorgeous than those false representations." Ruben said that without thinking he might sound cute or romantic, cause he doesn't know what love is and how it works.

Joshua Zephyrius and Vermudegarii (Closed)
As the winds blew, Joshua gripped his sword to stop the strong currents. He suddenly sensed that Ruben and Io went to the cabins for their own respite.

"I shall catch up to them later. First, I have to take care of this Regimenian," he thought.

Vermudegarii had got up after the winds stopped. "Ventilus King!" he shouted.

"... What is it?"

"It would seem that I discovered something more... efficient."

"Efficient?" Joshua began to speculate this "something". "Why are you saying this to me? After all, you need not to."

"I shall give you something to ponder. Albeit we are ultimate foes of each other, you are a worthy opponent!" Vermudegarii proclaimed. "We shall meet again once I take hold of what I long for!" It boosted further into the forest at high speeds, supported by the elctricity he was harnessing.

"Not on my sights," Joshua deeply spoke as he chased Vermudegarii. It seemed that they were gliding towards the direction of the cabins.

Joshua sighed. He was pondering about Ruben and Io, who were in the cabins. He worried what would have happened to both of them, especially the friend he treasured with his life. His "milady".

"I know not of the plans of this anthropomorph named Ruben," he thought. "Perhaps it was fate that led us both to the same destiny- to protect Io and this forest. However, he is not alone!"

Joshua's eyes slanted at the sight of the impending enemy towards the cabins. "He knew of them?! Perhaps not- he may have sensed their natural energy. I must stop him before he takes hold of-"

Vermudegarii landed on the grass, about to carry out his plans. He was standing 50 meters away from the cabins. Electricity crackled around his body.

Joshua sheathed his broadsword back in thin air. Knowing he deliberately trailed behind Vermudegarii to ambush him from afar, his soul resonance allowed him to blend with the vast atmosphere's wind energy to conceal his life force signature as well as thermal signature (Ancient Aerokinesis: Silent Stratos).

(Luna, I am finished with this part. :P)

Hugh, Komerl and Esme(Closed)
Esther laughed as well. "Glad to see you're awake, mister. This is the Ether Forest."

"Oh yeah, my dad's book mentioned this place....But why was it on fire earlier?" Komerl asked with a concerned tone.

"Yeah, I was wondering why too." Esme thought out loud while in a thinking pose.

"We don't know either, sad to say..." Esther answered, sounding saddened.

Komerl then saw something was going on from about a mile away.

"Hey, Esther....Is it possible for you to find or put up some barrier to protect the forest?" he asks out of nowhere while stretching his legs a little.

Unfortunately for him, Esme knew what he was planning...

Esme's irises had gone a little dark and the temperature dropped. "Please don't do anything stupid to get knocked out again or I will freeze you in suspended animation for a week in your mind."

Komerl's face paled as he nodded his head like an idiot. He then used Instant Transmission thinking, "My Chaos, she is freakin' creepy when she's like that..."

(Komerl is preparing to go to Ruben's location via Instant Transmission.)

Ruben, Joshua Zepyrius, Vermudegarii, and Io
"A book? What book?" Io asked, curiously. She was blushing slightly, in a shy manner.

"It's a book from my planet. It's ironic that they talk about a forest that exists in other planet." Ruben laughs. "Am I... Having fun?" Ruben then sees Vermudegarii from a distance and stands up. "Worry not, Io. I'll protect you."

Io saw Vermudegarii as well, and seemed rather unsettled by the fact that he had followed them.

He was walking along the wall of trees, ready to attack. "Now, shall we set up the battlefield? With pleasure!" Vermudegarii slammed his right hand on the grassy ground, releasing a field of electricity around him. The disturbed pulse merely passed through the two. He actually aimed for the forest around them. A ring of flames was created from multiple sparks.

"Don't worry, Io. I'll protect you, even if it costs my life." Said Ruben.

Within the vast globe of air, Joshua appeared before Ruben.

"Aah!" Io yelped, seemingly in pain once more thanks to the new fire.

"Finally you showed up. What do you think we destroy this bastard?" Suggested Ruben.

"If he does not hit you with his powers," Joshua said. "From the looks of it, he may have the upper hand. Ruben, protect Io. It is risky for you to come on contact with the foe."

"OK." Ruben turned his left arm into an extinguisher and started to extinguish the flames.

Meanwhile, now that Io was relieved of her pain, she was trying to figure out how she could reason with this humanoid creature.

Vermudegarii charged towards Ruben in high speeds while the latter was extinguishing the flames. Joshua protected him by unsheathing his broadsword and parrying the foe's blade-like spine.

"Wow! Thanks, man!" Said Ruben.

Vermudegarii backflipped away. His arms were charged with high voltage.

"No problem," Joshua replied.

Ruben extinguishes the last flame returning his arm to normal and putting himself between Io and the Vermudegarii.

"What do you want from us?" Io asked Vermudegarii, sternly.

Seeing that Ruben had extinguished the flames, Vermudegarii prepared to retract something from his back. "It is up to you to find out, once I embrace the power I long sought!"

"I could use my virus to transform, but what if they don't believe I can control my dark side?" Asked Ruben in his thoughts.

"His signature attack," Joshua thought. "You two, get behind me!"

"Do not try to be coy with me. What do you want?" Io repeated, though she got behind Joshua as instructed.

Ruben positioned himself in front of Io. If the hit was too hard for Josh, he could protect her.

Vermudegarii released a thick cloud of strange gray fog towards the three. Joshua closed his eyes and held his broadsword in reverse with both hands.

Ruben started charging his power without drawing much attention.

Io noticed Ruben gathering energy, but paid no mind to it.

After a while, the fog was split into two separate banks. The three were standing on the boundary.

Ruben's fur turned black and his eyes all white.

Joshua opened his eyes. He revealed his two swords mystically split from the broadsword.

Dark Ruben was ready to fight alongside Josh. "Let's go."

Io, meanwhile, was trying to analyze the situation. She really didn't want to end this violently, but she had little other options at this point.

Dark Ruben looked at Josh. "Let's finish this, shall we?"

Joshua spun both swords in each hand and grasped them by the handles in reverse position. "We shall decide your fate."

"Not quite!" Vermudegarii exclaimed. He condensed the two fog banks into a huge ball of fog. "You should worry about your friend behind you, Ventilus King." He was charged again with high-voltage electricity.

"Tch," Joshua grunted. "Ruben, be careful. It is more safe to attack him from afar. I will go directly against him."

Dark chaos could be seen around Ruben's hands. "I'll protect her, don't worry."

Io skittishly backed away from the Dark chaos. She was weak to dark energy and chaos energy, so the two of them together were frightening to her.

"Don't worry, Io. I won't hit you." Ruben knew her weekness from the book.

Io nodded, reluctantly.

Joshua grinned. "You are an interesting one." A cyan hypotrochoidal pattern manifested on both of his eyes. He charged towards Vermudegarii at blinding speeds. The latter was startled, causing him to fling the fog ball at him. Due to Joshua's speed, he was not able to counter accordingly. However, he charged nonetheless. He and Vermudegarii clashed in close-quarters combat.

Since Ruben's Ultra form can travel at a speed that hasn't a name than impossible speed, he could see perfectly the combat.

Vermudegarii was on strategic defense because he knew that the Geh'amm Scwaerand could easily pierce his hide if it hits. He kept on dodging and retaliating with lightning bolts while Joshua was very aggressive.

Ruben shoot a few dark chaos balls in Vermudegarii's direction.

Vermudegarii skidded backwards. He struggled to deflect the balls, seeing they are strong enough to knock him back. He swung his arms upwards to change their trajectory. He was sent backflipping towards the grass.

Joshua kept on charging and swung his swords with great skill. Vermudegarii kept backflipping as he set his hands on the grass to dodge the swords. He backflipped again while sending a linear electromagnetic pulse towards the distant Ruben.

Ruben punched the ground making a shield to protect him and Io.

The pulse, being of electromagnetic origin, bypassed the shield and lunged towards Ruben.

Ruben just putted his arms in front and was hit. He slided a little backwards, but he was fine.

The pulse might have disabled Ruben's electronic parts upon contact.

The robotic arm stopped working. Ruben cannot move it and he's kinda slow because of it's weight.

Vermudegarii, however, left himself open. Joshua was able to land some hits on him with his swords, leaving burn wounds and few broken parts.

Vermudegarii was knocked down. Joshua went back towards Ruben in high speeds. It seemed that he did not notice the pulse back then. "Ruben, are you still okay there-"

"That bastard deactivated my arm, but yeah."

"My apologies, I have not seen it coming."

"Don't worry. I was the one who failed defending that."

Vermudegarii stood back up. His broken parts regenerated which cost him a fair amount of energy. His eyes flashed cyan. "It seems that there is one."

"He was aiming for Ruben from the very start?" Joshua thought. "Then it is time for us to change our plans."

Io came over to check on the broken robotic arm. "I'm sorry, I should have put up a shield too..." She apologized.

"Milady," Joshua said. "Do not apologize."

Ruben gave his robotic arm to Io. "Don't worry, Io. Just grab this for me, please."

Joshua brandished his swords. "You are still under recovery, milady. Let the men clinch this battle."

"Alright. I'll keep it safe." Io replied, reassuringly. She was hiding how embarrassed she was by Joshua, since the spirits never called her "Milady". That was for her superiors, not her.

Ruben turned normal. "Let's keep this interesting." Ruben turned Super without any effort.

Vermudegarii stepped back a bit to the trees. He put his hands on two trees, causing them to wither gradually.

Ruben was focused on Vermudegarii to see what he was doing.

Vermudegarii was then engulfed in white energy.

Io visibly flinched, seeing this. She was so sensitive to the forest's damage, it was a miracle she had survived the fire.

Ruben clenched his fist. "Is that bastard teasing us?"

"Two trees like these should be enough," he said as he was undergoing some sort of... evolution.

Joshua assumed his traditional Antiquian swordplay stance. "There it is."

Ruben was still waiting.

"Please! Stop this at once!" Io shouted at Vermudegarii, glaring at him.

Moments later, Vermudegarii looked proportionally larger than before. His size was around one and a half times Joshua's size. "Be patient for a while. This shall end in the Conqueror's favor!" As his eyes flashed, a battalion of 240 Carrion Pygmies—winged Regimenian humanoids with the size of an average human—came from the north. It seemed that Vermudegarii had already transported them to the forest's premises before he attacked Joshua and Ruben. The thick battalion surrounded them.

Joshua levitated. He turned to Io. "Is there no need for me to ascend to a stronger form, milady? Your suggestion, if you may."

"Yes, please, use whatever ascension you have available. Get rid of these intruders." Io responded.

"The pleasure is mine," Joshua said. He sheathed back his swords in thin air. He pulled out a glowing green magic stone from his coat. "Ruben, shall we?"

Ruben took his arm from Io,charged it and putted him in. As soon as his arm was back in place, his fur turned purple, showing his Ultra form. "Let's destroy these bastards." Ruben smirks.

"But please, be careful!" Io added. "The forest is already badly damaged as it is..."

"We'll be careful. Let's go Josh!" Ruben said.

While holding the magic stone with his right hand, Joshua extended it forth sideways. "Zephyr!" The hypotrochoidal pattern on his left eye glowed cyan. An optical distortion of a maelstrom which was drawing into his eye manifested. It would look that his left eye was the eye of the storm. A strong gale of wind whipped the area. The carrion pygmies braced themselves to maintain their balance. Vermudegarii was slightly blinded by the gale so he defended himself by his placing his evolved arms before him.

Ruben braced himself while waiting for Josh's order to attack.

The storm-like distortion disappeared after Joshua waved his right hand down. All of a sudden, a stream of lightning rose up from his body and surrounded the enemy in the speed of light.

One by one, the carrion pygmies were struck by the lightning stream, creating sparks all over their scale-covered bodies. One-third of them were sent falling to the grass. Vermudegarii did not flinch from the attack- in fact, he resisted it albeit sparks were released upon contact with his body.

Joshua's appearance changed slightly. His hair was colored with a darker hue of green and his plated boots were etched with glowing cyan lines. His cape danced with the wind. Once more, he unsheathed the Geh'amm Scwaerand in its Dual mode from a veil of wind. He assumed his menacing Ancient King swordplay stance, looking more lethal than before. In addition, it looked like he deliberately has not made his signal yet.

Suddenly, Komerl was right besides via Instant Transmission Ruben with a serious look on his face.

"What the hell is going on around here?" he asked with a hint of malice in his voice. While not looking at him as a shadow covers his eyes, he then growls.

Ruben gets suprised by Komerl. "Who are you?! Step back, it's dangerous!"

Ignoring Ruben, Komerl then turned to Vermudegarii. "So what do you want with this place? I have a feeling you're definitely not here to enjoy the scenery."

Komerl had a feeling that this guy could be trouble. "I might to go all out for this one. I'll have to maybe use that new form."

Everybody - The Battle
For whatever reason, Joshua Burns had stumbled upon the area that everyone is at.

Vermudegarii noticed Komerl enter the battlefield. "Hm?"

"Eh?" Joshua Zephyrius mouthed.

Ruben was kinda confused. He approached Io because he didn't knew who wanted to harm her.

The ground starts to shake as loud booms are heard from Grief stomping towards everyone. Meanwhile Amanda is seen nearby apparently dozing off in normal form on a stump.

Novo still isn't around due to fighting the Genesect Drone away from the forest after finally locating it.

Midnight glides over the area, looking back to see Grief and Amanda, then proceeds to scan the area via his eye patch.

Io looks over at Ruben, seemingly understanding that he is concerned. "Do not worry, child, I will be fine..." She said, soothingly.

(The ground would be shaking due to Grief's stomping.)

Vermudegarii took notice of the tremors but he paid them no mind because tremors were common on Planet Regeleim. The carrion pygmies were seen gathering around him.

Joshua levitated. "Let us begin." He created a green magic circle from his right palm. "Force Nexus." A strong whirlwind was released from his palm. The whirlwind lunged towards Vermudegarii and his forces. Vermudegarii released another cloud of strange fog towards the wind. This created a large bank of fog around the area. Joshua clenched his right fist, stopping the whirlwind before the fog reached him.

Not knowing who was the enemy here, Midnight decided to look for Io's dual soul. There, he could assume who's on her side.

Indeed, Midnight would find Io's two souls, next to Ruben. She was backed up a ways from the battle, trying to plan her move, and formulate a plan of attack for the warrior spirits. Celeste was a warrior, after all.

Komerl then puts his hands up in the air. "Please, Ether Forest lend me a little of your energy..."

He would start to receive energy from the forest, very gradually. Had the fire not started, he would have received more energy than he could imagine, but there was little energy to spare after the fire.

Joshua (Burns) had felt the tremors as he was walking through the area. "What? An earthquake? This can't be good." He thought.

Io let out a loud, high pitched whistle into the forest, summoning the warrior spirits. However, this whistle may have hurt Grief's sensitive ears.

"Ahh!" The giant let out as the high pitched whistle's noise impacted his ears. He then proceeded to move his massive hands over them to cover them up to prevent any more of the noise from coming at them.

The yell from the giant had caused tremors in the atmosphere, rippling the air waves and making it impossible to Midnight to glide. It didn't help that Midnight was covering his ears from the yell either, so he began falling.

"Okay, phase one is done. Now, to restore the forest with my chaos energy." Komerl proceeds to use his chaos energy to heal some of the surrounding areas that were burned.

However, the forest didn't seem to respond to chaos energy. Io knew this, and saw Komerl, so she shook her head no to him. The warriors she had summoned were starting to fight the remaining Carrion Pygmies, using various elemental attacks.

The carrion pygmies were retaliating with a multitude of energy blasts. They were flying around the warrior spirits which reenacts a dogfight.

Midnight shifted his position so he could slam straight into the ground, unintentionally appearing right in front of Io with little to no notice.

Picking up something with his ears, Komerl turned to look at the source of the sound only to suddenly see Midnight in front of Io. He then had on a stern look on his face. ''"Wait, he's that other hedgehog from my vision....So, he's the one that caused the fire in the forest! Guess I'll need to speak with him first before dealing with that other person." ''He then grabbed Midnight and used Instant Transmission to get them to an open area to talk for a bit.

The two would have ended up in the grassy area on the edge of the forest, roughly the same spot where he was healed by Esther. Esme might have been close enough to spot him.

Ruben fighted against the minions that approached Io, protecting her.

Meanwhile, Io started to draw two runes. One as a strength buff for Ruben, one in an attempt to slow the carrion pygmies' movements slightly.

Eventually, Joshua (Burns) had stumbled upon everyone. "....Whoa." He thought.

The giant fox child still had his massive hands covering his gigantic ears. While this was going on he may not be able to hear anyone, however he could perhaps hear speach as mumbling.

Ruben gained the attack buff from Io and fighted with more efficiency.

Vermudegarii was still there. Since most of them paid him no heed, he began to transmit an electrical field. Joshua was still focused with him. Despite the fog still there, he hacked through the bank to allow others to retain their vision. The electrical field struck him but he insulated it. The field, however, did not stop with Joshua so it widened around the area of the fog which may electrocute anyone inside the fog bank, except the carrion pygmies and the warrior spirits, which were fighting in the air.

Io was electrocuted by the electrical field, and fell, paralyzed temporarily.

"Io!" Ruben grabbed her while headbutting some of the minions.

Io was twitching, still wide awake but unable to move a muscle (at least voluntarily).

Seeing the events unfold, Joshua (Burns) had equipped a Plasma Rifle of some sort, in an effort to protect himself, in case if he were to be attacked. "And here I thought I was going to have a normal exploration.." He thought.

Ruben was trying to find Vermudegarii.

Vermudegarii was able to see clearly within the fog bank because he can see through the individual life force signatures in the area which is not detected through real vision. As he detected Ruben and Joshua within the bank, he released two streams of electricity behind them, taking advantage of Ruben's disabled robotic arm (if he is not naturally attuned to the element of electricity).

Joshua was struck by the current whilst hacking through the bank with his swords. Since he nullifies electricity, he was unscathed.

Joshua (Burns) aimed his weapon at multiple targets. "...Which one is the freaking aggressor?" He thought.

Ruben swiftly dodged the stream and got into a stance. "That was close..."

(Josh TH: He may not see it coming either. Can he SENSE electricity or even danger? >.>)

(Joshua TH: Maaaaagic o3o)

Komerl, Esme, and Midnight
Midnight was caught off guard by the sudden grab and new location, so his first instincts were to strike at his opponent. And he did, as he teleported about 10 feet away before firing his chaos blaster at Komerl.

Komerl sighed and deflected the blast with ease but made sure not to damage the forest while doing so.

Esme looked at him, slightly surprised by his sudden appearance. "Weren't you going to see what was going on?"

"Yeah, but I kind of had a change of plans..I'll need you to stay out of this for a bit." Komerl explained as he walks over to Midnight with a serious expression.

"So, you're Midnight, right? Sorry about the sudden grab earlier but I needed to speak with you. But first, if you don't mind, I'd like to get as far away from this part of the forest as possible. You know, since there's innocent people here?" he says while crossing his arms.

Can casually deflect away a house destroying projectile... ''Impressive. ''"I'm looking for someone, and I have no time to waste it just to have a talk. You want to talk to me, you have to earn the right." Midnight began storming past Komerl.

Komerl then considered something for a second. He didn't want to get in his way but if that's what he needed to do....

"Sorry, but I don't think that I can do that. I need answers from you even if that means fighting you..." Komerl walking right beside him.

Midnight picked up the pace to a casual 40 mph.

Komerl proceeded to mimic his actions.

Esme just stood there, watching the two with a look of worry.

Midnight did not hold back this next run, and bolted to his max speed of Mach 5 almost instantly. While doing this, he unsheathed his sword.

Komerl didn't seem to want to hold back either. "Okay, if it's a race you want, it's a race you'll get!"

With a smirk, he proceeded to run almost as fast as his mentor, a gust of wind trailing behind him.

He also proceeded to use chaos energy to summon his sword while jumping off of some trees.

(Event Theme: A Deadly Race)

Midnight could "see" Komerl behind his back with his soul patch as he ran and jumped from tree to tree, and he swung his sword rapidly, summoning many chaos spears in Komerl's direction.

Komerl just deflects everyone of them, careful not to damage anymore of the forest.

He then proceeds to catch up with Midnight, running on the left side of him.

Midnight maneuvered his cape in a way that Komerl couldn't see ahead of him. During this second, Midnight shot his blaster at the ground ahead of Komerl, leaving a gaping hole to fall into.

"Oh no, not today..." Komerl thought as he just used Time Break to slow down time around him as the dust settled.

Midnight looks back to see Komerl moving at a faster rate than normal.'' He can go faster? Damn, I'm at my max speed... unless...''

After somehow avoiding the huge hole, Komerl then looked at Midnight saying, "Alright that's it! Speed Break!"

Komerl then proceeds to ram into Midnight with a triple kick.

Midnight used his chaos cape, slowing time down to 90%, and used that moment to analyze what's going on... This guy isn't a pushover as I thought he was.... and then Midnight smiled at that.

Midnight rolled out of the way before taking out his sword and launched a slice for Komerl's midsection.

Komerl, who just barely dodged the incoming slice, thought.... ''"Holy crap!" ''

Komerl then noticed that he had a slight cut though his shirt and he realized that Midnight could use chaos energy and stop time....."Hmm....I wonder if that had something to do with how he intercepted my Speed Break..."

Midnight stop in his tracks. He began walking around Komerl ten feet away, sizing up his opponent. "You're a lot more fun than I thought you were going to be." As he continued to walk around Komerl, Midnight pointed his sword in Komerl's direction. "It's been a while since I've fought a speed based opponent."

"Don't think that I'm all about speed, pal..." Komerl said with a smirk as he did the classic finger wag.

This intrigued Midnight. "Give me a reason to stop toying with you," he said as he lunged at Komerl.

Esme just sat and wrote another journal entry while watching the two start fighting.

Komerl smiles at Midnight as lunged at him as he thought to himself. "I think I should stop using chaos energy so I can focus on using only pyrokinetics and my combat style. But I can't help but wonder if we have something in common...."

As Midnight continued the lunge, he suddenly teleported behind Komerl, about to sweep kick him.

Komerl then retaliates by flipping back up on his feet immediately after being swept.

Midnight takes on a full offensive, and launches a flurry of punches.

Komerl then swiftly dodges the punches and counters with a strong kick.

Midnight retaliated by putting up his arms, blocking the attack.

Komerl suddenly somersault kicks Midnight upwards partially using Speed Break.

Midnight stands his ground, only slightly budged. "You call that a kick?" He taunted.

A male spirit was watching the two, and making a rune for a shield. He was going to trap the two of them, so that the forest didn't receive any more damage than it already had. They couldn't afford to be careless at a time like this. He carefully lined up his shot, aiming at Midnight since he wasn't moving as much.

Midnight's quills perked up at a sudden new danger, and he used his cape to teleport 50 feet into the air. While free-falling, he saw a spirit in his patch. Once hitting the ground again, he looked over at what he thought was an assailant. This momentarily made him forget about Komerl.

The spirit used a transparent staff, firing at Midnight the second he hit the ground. If the shot made contact, Midnight and Komerl would be trapped in a dome shaped barrier the size of an average room. It would be big enough for the two to fight comfortably at melee range.

Midnight, now more prepared to make a proper counter, teleported right to the spirit, his sword chaos pointed literally 3 millimeters away from the spirit. "First I'm interrupted by being teleported to wherever, then I'm being interrupted midfight by someone possibly trying to kill me... who are you?"

The spirit was terrified; so much so that he couldn't even find the words to answer Midnight.

"I'm sorry, do I have to ask you nicely? WHO ARE YOU?!" Midnight demanded, ready to figure out if a chaos sword can hurt a spirit like chaos spears can.

The spirit tried to calm his nerves. "My name's Jeremiah! I was only trying to protect the forest! Please don't hurt me!!" He begged.

Midnight sighed, then eventually put the sword down, still clutching his sword "You're wasting my time. Both of you are wasting my time." I gotta keep moving. Midnight turned to the forest, searching for Io's souls.

Komerl prepared to follow Midnight but not before approaching Jeremiah and comforting the figure. "Sorry but I made sure not to damage the forest considering you guys might be fond of it and all. Anyways, gotta go follow that guy so bye!"

"Thank you..." Jeremiah answered.

He then ran off after Midnight realizing something. "His chaos energy is the one I sensed earlier before I absorbed the flames....."

"You're the one who started the forest fire, aren't you?!" he shouted towards the mercenary in sudden anger as he caught up with an unforeseen burst of speed.

(KOMERL forgot SPEED BREAK and learned.....RAGING BURST)

The grey hedgehog looked back when his quills shot up, and just barely had enough time to block the the attack, pushing him back 10 feet though keeping his stance. I... actually felt that one...he thought. Komerl became the third person to make Midnight actually smile because of enjoyment.

Esme, meanwhile, was still writing in her journal, not aware of what was happening.

Komerl then stopped his attack and took off his inhibitor rings. Then as he started to close his eyes, a flaming white aura surrounded him as the Cosmic Emerald flew out of his body as he started to feel something strange....

Inside of his mindscape...

Komerl felt two types of energy surge throughout his body: one was of a dark spirit's negative chaos energy and one was of Komerl's positive chaos energy.

'"So, you've figured out how to tap into mine and another's power already?" 'the dark spirit said with a devious smirk.

"I dunno, really. It really was the emotions I was feeling at the time..." Komerl replied back with a retort of his own.

'"Well, this is quite the predicament, huh?" 'the dark spirit asks sarcastically.

"Obviously." Komerl said rhetorically while they were both thinking....

Well, since I am feeling very generous, you may use my power without having me to influence you, just this once."  the spirit replies with a frown.

"And in exchange of you giving me this free power, there is obviously a price, right?" Komerl asked the spirit, obviously knowing that things could get rough. 

'"The price is that your powers will be disabled for a time, discluding your speed and combat skills of course. However, this is only after the energy is all used up." 'the spirit says with a calm, stoic expression.

Komerl then considers the offer and after that...

"Fine. I'll accept your offer this time..." Komerl says with a sigh as he goes back into the real world.

Outside of the mindscape...

Komerl suddenly was surrounded by a sky blue pillar of light as the Sonic 2 transformation sound was heard and a huge intense gust of wind blew across the forest.

From a moment during all this, someone could've seen Sonic's image appear behind Komerl, as if he's getting help...

"Now I'll show you!!!! Grrrrraaaaah!"

(Event Theme #2: Now I'm serious..).

Unaware of what was going to happen, but surprised by the sudden increase in power, Midnight shifted to a defensive position. ''I'll say this one thing, the kid earned my respect. Let's see how strong you've gotten. ''Midnight took out his sword, ready to counter or dodge at any moment.

"......." Komerl's appearance had significantly changed. His fur was now an iris blue, his gloves and inhibitor rings were gone, his jacket's color a dark black. His eyes were sharpened as the irises were a dark red as well and his quills were slightly raised. There was a fiery, but vibrant aura surrounding him as a sudden heavy pressure could be felt.

Surprisingly, he was then behind Midnight in a fraction of a second.

"What the--" His patch showed a soul behind him, and of course, it had to be Komerl. He quickly turned around to see who it was.

"......" Komerl just snapped his fingers as time slowed down. He then proceeds to use his newest technique:

"Midnight Falcon..." he whispers as he uses the combo.

Midnight went flying into a nearby mountain, and a massive amount of dust flew into the sky. Ro cks crumbled and fell in the surrounding area. When the surrounding area cleared, however, he was gone.

Komerl then reverted back to normal but then felt exhausted and was forced on one knee. "Crap.....D-Didn't think it would take that much to perform that move...I guess it's from using my positive chaos energy and his negative energy."

Esme, looking up, saw that the two were gone. She then decided to go and find Komerl, just to see if he was okay. "Please be fine..." she worriedly thought to herself.

Komerl felt a hand on his shoulder. "You have potential, no doubt, but you can't control it." Midnight said, in almost a calming teacher tone.

Even though he sounded calm, one could see that his fur was still smoking, there was a small scar on his forehead, and there were dents and holes in his armor, which if one had very precise eyes, could see that they were mending. Midnight calmly walked to the front of Komerl, and just sat there, with a smirk on his face. "You've earned the right to talk to me... Question is, will you talk, or will you keep fighting?"

Komerl suddenly blinked as he actually forgot that during the fight. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that but we'll fight more later! So, you were the one who started the fire in the forest?"

Midnight looked off behind Komerl, seeing the scarred forest. One could see the smirk turn back into its grim look. Midnight looked down, eyes closed. Every time, I ignore facts and resort to killing... I will never be able to find the murderer if I can't control my personality. and after a moment of silence, he thought of something.

"I can fix this. I'm looking for someone named Io, to see if I can redeem myself." Midnight stood up, offering his hand to Komerl to pick him up.

Komerl smirked as he took his hand eagerly. "Sure, I know where she is! I was near her before I saw you. But I know you didn't mean to destroy the forest. But, you may need to apologize later..."

His ears then suddenly picked up something....

 He heard Esme running towards him as he was suddenly tackled to the ground.

Esme's facial expression was then hidden by a shadow as Komerl suddenly paled thinking, "I'm so dead..."

''"I'm going to punish that hedgehog for making me worry when he goes back to the city." ''she thought while looking at him with a deranged smile as her eyes had a strange, mischievous gleam.

Komerl just gulped at the expression since he knew that expression all too well....

Suddenly, she was back to her normal as if she didn't just scare the daylights out of him.

"Hey, Komerl, I'll see you later. I'm going to head back to my dad's house for a while..." she says as she took out the Item Ring he gave to her earlier before the "whole forest thing started.

It then summoned a warp ring as she jumped into it.

Komerl just blinked, confused on what just happened but then shivered as he remembered that face.

Midnight wasn't shocked at the event. He continued looking around for Io's soul. "She Reminds me of a friend I have. Just as feisty as her when she can't get her way."

"Huh. So, about the fight. You were holding back, right?" Komerl says with a thinking expression on his face.

Midnight looked Komerl dead in his eyes. "I'd kill you if I wasn't." And his eyes approved it.

Novo
Above the forest and in the clouds, Novo's battle with the Genesect Drone turned to be a challenging-if not, difficult- fight;Although, he managed to score some damage and snatch the drive that allowed it to fire its Fire Techno Blast.

"This one's fighting style is different from the others. Those claws and that Blaze Kick pack a punch if I'm not too careful, and neither my Wind,or even Lightning jutsu attacks would work because even without its Burn Drive, it still is able blast them without trouble. What I need to do is pay attention to the pattern and find a way to counter it with a Water/Ice Jutsu. I'll have to think of a Plan B if this doesn't work.